


The Link That Binds Us Together

by Eryang



Category: NU'EST, Wanna One (Band)
Genre: 30k and they don't even kiss once, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Because society is stupid, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Just near the end though, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Romantic Soulmates, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, no kidding, very slightly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-22 22:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13774047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eryang/pseuds/Eryang
Summary: No words could describe it.Because it isn’t that easy.Or, is it?In which Minhyun and Seongwoo weren't chosen to be linked by fate. But it's fine, because they are more than just fate.





	The Link That Binds Us Together

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know how I wrote 30k of this. I don't know why I wrote 30k of this...  
> I feel like most of this could be skipped over and it wouldn't change a thing...
> 
> Tagging hurts my head, so I apologize if I've tagged anything wrong or if I missed something. I think you could put a question mark after most of the tags.
> 
> One last thing, no matter how many times I've reread this, I keep finding mistakes, so you'll probably find mistakes too. I apologize for that. 
> 
> But anyways, I hope you'll enjoy... *sweats nervously*

 

 

 

When Minhyun is five, he has his first lesson about soulmates, even if it’s not the first time he hears about soulmates. It isn’t even really a lesson actually, the teacher just tells them some basic things. They are told that when two soulmates touch for the first time, a red band appears on their wrist with a small unique symbol carved in gold and that they would immediately know when something bad happened to their soulmate, but it’s nothing that Minhyun doesn’t already know. That is all the children are taught at that time, the teacher doesn’t explain all the details, leaving everything else to the imagination of the small kids.

When Minhyun is ten, he is taught more. If your soulmate gets injured or becomes ill, black dots would appear on the band, the number of them depending on the gravity of the situation. When your soulmate dies, if you had already met them, your band would turn black, the golden symbol still apparent but if you had never met them, a blank black band would just appear on your wrist.

There are even cases of babies born with a black band. Some scientist argue that it is because their soulmate died before their birth, others say that it is because they don’t have a soulmate in the first place. The truth? No one knows.

Thorough Minhyun’s life, he hears many other things about soulmates. One of them being that soulmates are people that understood each other even without words, there isn’t any kind of telepathy but they just understand each other. That soulmates need each other. That they can’t achieve true happiness without each other. That finding our soulmate is the reason we were born.

 

And now? Now, Minhyun is already eighteen and about to start his first year of university. His soulmate? Who knows…? He had met a lot of people approaching him with a hopeful look, touching, and when nothing happened, putting on a dejected look before muttering an apology and going away. It happened quite frequently, but it’s not like it bothered him too much. Well, it did, but he couldn’t help but get hopeful from time to time. Who wouldn’t when you’ve been told since you were young that finding your soulmate is the greatest moment in your life?

It is said that once you find your soulmate, everything makes sense. Living your life without your soulmate is like eating bland food, it can keep you alive, but it doesn’t bring out anything.

It’s not like Minhyun lived a sad life, he wouldn’t even describe it as bland. He is genuinely satisfied with it and he doesn’t like hypothetical situations, but sometimes, just sometimes, he can’t help but wonder, he can’t help but get envious. Just sometimes, he wishes it isn’t a black band attached to his wrist.

Sometimes, he would hold out his arm to observe it. To stare at it. Not knowing the meaning behind it. Are they dead? Have they never existed? No one would be able to tell him.

 

 

Feeling down never changed anything, instead, he just decided to stop feeling down. Although the kid Minhyun was sad and very conscious of the black line adorning his wrist, always hiding it behind his back or under his hand or sleeve, by the time Minhyun is sixteen, he is already accustomed to his fate. He would just simply live without his soulmate, even if he allows himself to get slightly hopeful that the color of his band is just an error from time to time. He doesn’t necessarily hide his band anymore, but he doesn’t show it off either. It just became a part of him.

Chasing off his thoughts, Minhyun enters the University dormitory where he decided to stay for the next few years and heads to the reception. After being grabbed quite aggressively by the person handing out the keys, Minhyun goes up to look for his room.

Minhyun walks through the hallway of the first floor looking at the numbers engraved at the doors. His room number is 117. And after passing the number 112, he knows it isn’t that far anymore and picks up the pace. Once standing in front of it, he unlocks it and steps inside.

The room looks quite spacious and there are even two separate bedrooms. His roommate isn’t there yet, so Minhyun makes the decision to use the nearest room and lets himself fall on the bed. He doesn’t have the strength to sort his luggage right away, so he decides to take a short nap.

 

 

 

When Seongwoo is five, one can say that he is slightly fascinated. People who had no apparent common ground could very well be actually linked. People who didn’t know each other, who lived a completely different lifestyle could be brought together by a phenomenon that no one could really explain. A band magically appearing on one’s wrist seems very cool and Seongwoo wants to know the reason behind it. And he also wants to know how it could happen since every time he asks an adult, they would just tell him _‘It’s fate’_. Seongwoo isn’t satisfied with that answer.

When he learns more about it, he becomes even more fascinated with it. Black dots appearing out of nowhere when your soulmate is sick or injured means that the bands are not just to pair up two people. It knows how the other one sporting the same band feels and it gives the information to its owner. Do the bands have some kind of telepathy between them? Seongwoo is full of questions. He is determined to find the truth behind this fate.

 

And now? Now, Seongwoo is eighteen, starting his first year at university and has yet to meet his soulmate. And he couldn’t care less.

Seongwoo was repeatedly told that the purpose of his life was to find his soulmate. It’s probably reactance that made him become more and more indifferent about them. As the years went by, he grew unable to believe that just one person could make his life change that much. It’s not like he’s lonely or in need of affection. He has a caring family and great friends. And at some point, soulmates just started to sound too artificial and forced.

To everyone, soulmates may be the goal in their life, but to Seongwoo, it’s nothing more than a somewhat forced acquaintance. The number of people that approached him hoping he was their soulmates just because he was maybe a little handsome (maybe more than a little, but still) only added to his dislike towards soulmates.

 

 

About to take step into his university life, Seongwoo is standing in front of a building that is going to be his home for the next few years. For convenience, Seongwoo had decided to stay at the university dorm instead of commuting everyday from home. Once inside, when Seongwoo tries to take the key at the reception, the person in charge grabs his wrist for a few seconds before letting disappointed. It’s always draining when it happens, but Seongwoo doesn’t want to start to feel down, so he doesn’t linger and turns away. He will never understand why people are so desperate.

‘117, 117, 117…’ Seongwoo chants the number as he goes through the hallway to find his room. When he spots it, he unlocks it and is met with quite a spacious room and a smile finds its way on Seongwoo’s lips. He can’t let those desperate people bring his mood down. He already made up his mind to live his last few years before been thrown in the real adult world to their fullest.

As he enters the room, he sees a pair of shoes on the rack. Probably his roommate’s.

“Hello?” Seongwoo calls out, but no answer. Maybe he had gone out. That or he just didn’t hear him.

Seongwoo approaches one room on the side and opens the door carefully. Inside, he spots someone sleeping on the bed. Not wanting to wake him up, Seongwoo closes the door as quietly as possible. He then goes to the adjacent room and opens his luggage to put away his belongings.

 

After sorting his clothes, Seongwoo starts to get hungry and decides to eat. He picks one pack of ramyeon he had taken with him and gets up, but stops right before grabbing the door knob as he remembers the sleeping roommate in the other room. It’s very likely that he hadn’t eaten yet, seen how clean the kitchen seemed.

After some thoughts, he takes another pack and exits the room. He puts down the ramyeon on the table and heads to his roommate’s room. He knocks and opens the door, less cautiously than previous time. When Seongwoo pokes his head inside, he can see the stranger stirring.

“Hum… Excuse me?” he calls out in a not too loud voice, but loud enough for him to be sure to be heard.

“Hm… Hm?” The other gets up on his limbs and rubs his eyes.

“Sorry for waking you up, but I was thinking of preparing lunch and I was wondering if you wanted to eat with me?” Seongwoo suggests. It would be a good get acquainted while having a meal as it would give an excuse for the silence. If they can’t talk, they’d just eat.

“Eh? Euh… Wait, what time is it?” His roommate is obviously still disoriented and rubs his face with both hands.

“It’s about ten past one,” Seongwoo answers after checking his watch.

“One… It’s already one?!” The guy seems to be shaken awake at that information as he jumps out of the bed and rushes to his bag, frantically looking for something.

“So, lunch?” Seongwoo doesn’t really appreciate being ignored and forgotten, but he is going to do this guy a favor and put this bad attitude on the fact that he woke up.

“Ah, yes, I’m sorry. Yeah, I’ll eat too.” Pausing his searches, the roommate turns around and for the first time, Seongwoo can see his face. He is quite handsome with eyes that somehow reminds him of a fox. From what Seongwoo can see, he’s rather tall to, probably around the same height as him.

“Is ramyeon ok? I only have that.” Honestly, no one in their right mind would refuse ramyeon. Even if Seongwoo’s pack ramyeon probably isn’t the best one out there, it’s still the heavenly food by excellence. But Seongwoo still asks to be sure.

“Yes, it’ll be fine. I’m grateful enough that you offer some to me.” The guy smiles and the handsome face is replaced with a cute one. “Oh! Do you need some help?” the smile disappears just as quickly as it had appeared as the roommate offers a hand.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” Seongwoo shots down the help and goes back to the kitchen where he fishes out a pot and boils water. He takes the two packs and put the ramyeon and the base in the water. He would have liked to put in some eggs too, but with none in proximity, he settles for the basic ramyeon.

His roommate finally decides to step out of his room just as Seongwoo cuts the gas. He puts the pot on the table and takes out two plates.

“Here,” Seongwoo places one of the plates on one side of the table before handing him a pair of chopsticks and sits down at the opposite side. The roommate thanks him and follows suit. “By the way, I haven’t introduced myself yet, my name is Ong Seongwoo, a chemistry student.”

“Oh? Ong isn’t a very common name, is it?”

“That’s right, a lot of people can’t get it correctly right away, thinking it’s Hong, Gong or something like that. Actually, I think you’re the first one.” And as much as Seongwoo loves bluffing, he isn’t exaggerating here. Every time introductions were needed, he had to repeat his name over and over again. So it’s a refreshing difference to have someone that doesn’t mishear it for whatever people usually misheard it for.

“That’s quite an honor,” unnamed roommate chuckles, eyes turning into a pair of croissant.

“By the way, you are…?

“Oh, right. My name is Hwang Minhyun, I’m going in communication. It’s nice to meet you.” Minhyun extends his hand, offering a handshake.

Seongwoo stares at his hand for a few seconds. Over the years, he had grown wary of physical contact with strangers. It was always a pain when hordes of people surrounded him. So he is hesitant. Even a handshake had become similar to a chore. Seongwoo reluctantly accepts his hand. However, instead of the disappointed look that he expected, a sweet smile appears.

“I really look forwards to those next few years, I hope we’ll get along.”

His roommate seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Maybe it finally happened. Maybe the one standing in front of him also doesn’t care for soulmates. After all, he hadn’t even brought up the soulmate subject yet. That was usually one of the first topics being talked between two strangers. ‘Have you met your soulmate yet?’ ‘When do you think you’ll meet them?’ He didn’t hint at it either. But Seongwoo likes it that way and he is more than happy to diverge from the usual direction conversations took.

“Same here.” Seongwoo returns the smile, the slight annoyance from ten seconds ago completely fading away.

 

 

 

Living with a stranger for the first time, the beginning is quite awkward. The courses not having started yet, apart from a few times one would step out of, the two of them spends most of their time in their own room. Occasionally, one would go in the living room when sure that the other isn’t there. In the evening, the two would awkwardly walk together to the dorm cafeteria to eat dinner.

And this evening isn’t different from the ones preceding as the two of them head silently to the cafeteria. After getting their food, they head toward an empty table and begin to eat without a word.

“Whoa! You met your soulmate?! You’re so lucky!” a voice loudly resonates from the table next to them. Seongwoo and Minhyun turn their head at the noise and see a guy proudly showing off his wrist on which a red band was bound.

“That’s amazing! My sister only met her soulmate at 29 and my uncle has yet to find them. I guess some people are just lucky,” one of his friend comments.

“Hehe, that’s not luck, but fate. Fate!” the guy that was showing off his wrist declares with an arrogant voice and a snobbish smile. “Fate has chosen me and my soulmate to meet today at twelve past three in the lobby. Us and no one else.”

Seongwoo sighs and turns his head back. “Again with this fate thing,” he mutters with a small voice to not be heard.

“Hm? Did you say something?” Minhyun looks at Seongwoo, curiosity written in his eyes.

“No, it’s nothing,” Seongwoo brushes him off and redirects his attention to his food.

“But it’s quite impressive that he already found his soulmate, isn’t it? I wonder how it feels…” Minhyun smiles as he lifts a piece of kimchi with his chopsticks.

Seongwoo slowly lifts his head. “Are you one of these guys that are crazy about finding their soulmate?” Seongwoo had thought that Minhyun disliked soulmates given the fact that not even once had he brought the subject up. But maybe he isn’t like Seongwoo, but just indifferent about it or he is the kind that are actually desperate but doesn’t show it.

“Eh?” Minhyun stares at him for a moment, he looks almost hesitant. “No, I’m not.” He stops as he put down his chopsticks. His right hand hovers on his left wrist before he lifts his sleeve to show his wrist and Seongwoo feels slightly guilty. “I don’t have one, or they already died, or whatever this means. Basically, I won’t meet any soulmate of mine,” he says, a calm smile still present on his face as he slides his sleeve back down.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” Seongwoo hadn’t thought of the possibility that Minhyun had a black band since it wasn’t that much of a common appearance.

“It’s fine.” Minhyun offers him an eye smile. “Do you not want to meet your soulmate?” Seongwoo feels a bit uncertain to talk about it. Maybe it’s somewhat improper to talk about this in front of Minhyun. The latter obviously notices Seongwoo’s hesitation because he continues, “It’s fine, you know? I don’t really give too much importance about my band.”

After some thoughts, Seongwoo decides to talk. “I don’t really care about them. I mean, is there really a point? Can you believe that just a single person could change your whole world? Because I can’t. Besides, it’s not like I’m unhappy or unsatisfied with anything in my life,” it’s the same thing he would always repeat absentmindedly when people asked him about soulmates, but this time, he is careful about each word he says.

“Sometimes, I wonder.”

“What?”

“I also don’t know how a single person could change one’s life. But I’m curious about how they would change it. And although I don’t have a soulmate, although I’ll never have one, I’m also neither unhappy nor unsatisfied with my life. I don’t feel empty or anything, or maybe it’s exactly because my band is black? I don’t really know,” Minhyun says and Seongwoo can almost see amusement in his eyes. “Aren’t you curious?” he directs these words at Seongwoo.

Suddenly, walking around eggshells seems too hard of a task for Seongwoo as he voices out his honest opinion, “I really dislike this soulmate system. I don’t want to play house with a forced acquaintance. In the end, it’s nothing but something forced, happening against people’s will.” Seongwoo hates the thought of a stranger becoming the source of light in one’s life just for that band. It’s ridiculous, how could someone you don’t know, someone who doesn’t know you be trusted with your life?

Minhyun chuckles. “That’s an interesting point of view. It’s the first time I’ve heard someone calling them forced acquaintances.”

Seongwoo lifts an eyebrow. “You don’t have to force yourself into saying nice things, you know? You can just tell me that I’m weird and that I’m an ungrateful brat and that I should frantically look for my soulmate while I still have one.” Seongwoo is already prepared to be lectured. Not only is it socially unacceptable to reject your soulmate, but he is also very rude to one that can’t join theirs.

“I don’t think it’s weird? I mean, that’s your opinion, nothing’s wrong with it. There’s no weird or wrong opinions, that’s why they’re opinions. If you don’t want to look for your soulmate, it’s your business, not mine.” Seongwoo stares at Minhyun with a surprised look. That’s something he doesn’t hear very often, if not at all.

“That’s also an interesting point of view.” Seongwoo smirks before stuffing his mouth with a spoonful of rice.

“What is?”

“You not finding me weird. Through all my life, people kept telling me that I should stop being stubborn, that I should be looking for my soulmate instead of rejecting them. You’re the only one who thinks it’s alright for me to have a different opinion.” After all, this society has already been brainwashed into doing exactly as told. Everyone just following one another, opinions be damned. Soulmates only have one socially acceptable outcome in this society: marriage.

“Well, get used to it, because that’s how I am.”

“I guess we’re both weird in the end.”

“Don’t say ‘weird’, it sounds pejorative. I personally call that being ‘unique’.” Minhyun pouts as his finishes the last bits of his plate.

“I can already feel that we’ll get along.” Seongwoo smiles. Minhyun isn’t like the others. Maybe due to the fact that he really isn’t like the others, he is different. He doesn’t judge him for thinking that soulmates are unnecessary. He doesn’t force his view down his throat either. Instead, he respects his opinion. It’s at this exact moment that Seongwoo first feels truly glad to have met Minhyun. Him and no one else.

 

 

If the start had been shaky between the two of them, the following weeks have them laughing together in front of the TV, all discomfort forgotten in the past. The two of them, once they had started talking, found out they have a lot of common interest. Their humor matches pretty well too and if Seongwoo had initially thought of Minhyun as someone calm, serious, kind and level headed, he soon has to change his belief because he is indeed kind, serious when it comes to cleaning and loves to read, but he is also extremely loud and talkative once the stranger barriers have been put down, maybe a bit too much even. But that’s fine because Seongwoo likes talking with Minhyun.

 

 

 

 

Once the first semester starts, since the two of them are in different faculty, unsurprisingly, they don’t have any classes together. Instead, they agree to meet up at noon. Minhyun takes the chance to introduce him to his high school friends, Choi Minki, a student in psychology, Kang Dongho in medicine and Kim Jonghyun who is a communication student just like Minhyun.

Their first meeting is a bit messy because Seongwoo is still awkward with them and doesn’t know how to react when Minki orders Minhyun to get a smoothie for him, leaving Seongwoo to fend for himself.

“So you’re Minhyun’s roommate?” the guy Minhyun had introduced as Dongho starts to talk to him, but before he gets the chance to even open his mouth, the guy continues, “Poor you. He’s quite annoying, isn’t he? I’d know, we’re childhood friends. He really doesn’t know when to when to shut up. And he nags a lot too. I bet he already started to nag. He even nags me in my own house. Clean this, clean that. Don’t throw your socks everywhere. That clean freak really ought to know when to keep his mouth shut.” Seongwoo is speechless. He thought that Dongho would have been the calm, strong and silent type but once again, the cover and the content are completely different. Without letting Seongwoo say anything other than some small acknowledging hums, Dongho continues to talk about Minhyun.

“Dongho, you’re going to scare Minhyun’s first university friend away.” It seems as the others finally take pity in Seongwoo because Jonghyun tries to stop Dongho.

“Minhyun would have already scared him away, then.” And somehow, Seongwoo can’t disagree with the fact that Minhyun did talk quite a lot too once he became comfortable around him. But the key part is ‘once he became comfortable around him’. Because he doesn’t Dongho at all, he doesn’t know how to react.

“Why would I have scared him away?” Minhyun sits down next to Seongwoo with two drinks in hands.

“Oh, Minhyun, you have my smoothie?” Minki who had preciously just silently fiddled with his phone speaks up as he hears Minhyun’s voice.

“Yup, here.” With Minhyun back, Seongwoo feels himself relax as his roommate makes most of the conversation. The rest of the lunch time goes in a blur and soon, they are forced to clean up and to prepare themselves for their next classes. They all go on their own way but not before they make plans to meet up again after classes. Seongwoo agrees. He probably could use some new friends since most of his old friends are in other Universities. And they all seem funny too.

The next time he sees Minhyun’s friends, their number is increased by one and he is introduced to Aron, an upperclassman, older than the others by two years. Just like Seongwoo, he is part of the science faculty, but the difference being that he studies physics instead of chemistry.

After hanging out more with them, Seongwoo learns that Minki is never to be annoyed, that Dongho although looking scary, is just a really talkative puppy princess, that Jonghyun is too kind for this world and that Aron, albeit really smart, is very kid-like. Spending time with Minhyun’s friend is always entertaining in a way or another and Seongwoo is grateful to be accepted in their friend circle.

 

 

Seongwoo, he, in turn introduces a childhood friend of his too. Yoon Jisung, who is already in his fourth year. The two of them had been neighbors for a while and their parents had immediately hit it off, so they’d often take both Seongwoo and Jisung to travel together even after Seongwoo’s family moved away.

The clash of Jisung, Minhyun and Dongho is so loud that the others all runs away at the first chance, leaving the three chatterboxes to themselves.

“It was a mistake to introduce Jisung hyung…” Seongwoo says to Minki and Jonghyun as they watch the three of them from afar.

“No kidding. Why are they so loud? How are they so loud?” Minki sighs as his eyes narrow at the scene before him. “I thought it was already bad enough with just Minhyun and Dongho. I didn’t think it could get worse…”

“Hehe!” Jonghyun laughs as the other two continue to complain. “Still, it’s good that they get along.” Trust Jonghyun to be Jonghyun. Of course he’d say that. And while it’s true that Seongwoo is glad they get along too, too loud is still too loud.

“I think they get along a bit too much,” Minki retaliates, stressing on the ‘bit’.

“Just what are they be talking about for them to have so much to say…” It’s already fascinating to see Minhyun and Dongho to talk endlessly. And he had always been awed at how much Jisung could talk. But it’s even more astonishing how much those three could talk when put together.

“Who knows? I don’t. And I don’t actually want to know either.” Minki closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“I could have been worse, though,” Jonghyun says, a bit too cheerfully.

“How?” Minki turns his head away from the three chatterboxes and focus his eyes on Jonghyun and soon after, Seongwoo follows Minki’s movement, also curious about the answer that Jonghyun is about to give them.

“They could be hating each other and yelling at one another now. So, isn’t it good as long as they’re good friends?” Jonghyun smiles as he fondly looks at the people in question.

A short silence follows Jonghyun as Minki and Seongwoo stay frozen from his words.

“You’re right actually. Sulky Dongho and pouty Minhyun are already a pain to deal with when they get into a fight...” Minki says after a moment of reflection.

“And Jisung hyung is pretty scary too when he’s angry…” Seongwoo adds.

“I can’t imagine what would happen if they were to have a three way war…” Minki shivers as cold sweat drips down his spine. “Let’s make sure it never happens…”

“Yep, I’m glad they get along too,” Seongwoo agrees while Jonghyun just continue to watch the conversation with a smile. But just as they come to terms with their friends being a bit noisy, unbelievably loud laughs erupts from the direction of the table they had abandoned earlier. “Still, it was a mistake to introduce Jisung hyung.”

 

 

 

 

When Seongwoo and Minhyun get a day where both are not so busy, they like to stroll down the street and to chill in a small café named Daybreak.

The first time they had done so, Seongwoo discovers a cute side of Minhyun as he hurriedly stops Seongwoo from ordering the coffee in his stead.

“But I heard from Jisung it’s the best coffee they have.” Jisung, a regular of three years already, had given a list of to order and to not order to Seongwoo. On the very top of the list is the best seller of this café and it apparently tastes so good that Jisung cried the first time he took a sip of it. Well, according to Jisung himself, at least.

“No, it’s euh…” Minhyun looks nervous while looking for an answer as he shifts from one leg to another.

“What’s wrong?” Seongwoo inquires. It’s weird for Minhyun to be this fiddly, it’s actually the first time Seongwoo sees Minhyun acting like this. He usually is quite confident and honest.

“I… Euh… It’s just that I wanted to drink a smoothie.” Seongwoo doesn’t push further and change the subject as they wait for their order, but when their drink come to them, it dawns on Seongwoo.

“Wait, could it be…” Seongwoo starts and he can already see Minhyun get tense. “You can’t drink coffee?” As he finishes his sentence and Seongwoo guesses he probably hit the mark seen how Minhyun’s ears become red. “How cute,” he adds which makes the red of Minhyun’s ears darken.

“I… can’t help it. It’s too bitter,” Minhyun says sulkily as he takes his drink in hand and stirs it with the straw.

“So you can’t drink bitter things? How about bitter food?” Seongwoo teases his roommate.

“I…” Minhyun starts but hesitates before continuing. “…can’t.” Minhyun avoids Seongwoo’s eyes as he sullenly sips his smoothie.

“So mister nagging has a kid’s taste? That’s quite a funny information.” Seongwoo snickers. It’s something he wouldn’t really have imagined coming from the roommate who always criticize him about leaving clothes everywhere and who would always pester him to clean. Minhyun had been associated with the image of a parent in his head, but now, all he can visualize is a kid scowling in front of bitter food.

“Shut up, this has nothing to do with that.” Minhyun pouts.

“But now that I think about it, I should have known it. You always rejected morning coffee. I thought you were some kind of superhuman that could function even in the dead of the morning, but you’re just a kid who can’t drink coffee,” Seongwoo says with a big grin on his face.

“I still am someone who can function in the morning without coffee, though. Why I don’t drink coffee doesn’t change that fact,” Minhyun retorts with his lips protruded out.

“Why did you hide it, though?” Seongwoo asks as he recalls that Minhyun never once told him he disliked coffee. If he had done so, Seongwoo would have stopped proposing him some coffee every mornings.

“I didn’t hide it…” Minhyun continues to slurp on his drink.

It's funny how Minhyun in Seongwoo’s perspective, after only a few weeks, has become someone completely different from their first meeting, but with each details, Seongwoo can’t help but feel himself become closer to his roommate.

 

 

 

 

People say that studies only become harder in University. And they aren’t lying. Seongwoo would have liked if he had actually listened to these people instead of going out almost every day with his friends. Because of that, he found himself quite behind in classes and has to make up for it with a few all-nighters that his body immediately regrets after passing the 35-hour-awake mark.

Minhyun, he, seems to be a lot more relaxed than Seongwoo as he is leisurely reading a book on the couch. So when Seongwoo comes out of his room to get a glass of water to dehydrate himself and sees Minhyun relaxing in their living room through his narrowed eyes, he gets a bit annoyed and frustrated.

“Shouldn’t you study? I mean, mid-terms are coming soon,” Seongwoo says, tiredness clearly present in his voice. He is currently passing through his 34th hour, so in about one hour, he is going to regret all his life choices.

“I should be fine. I already reviewed everything.” Of course. Because Minhyun doesn’t party, he seldom go out and he doesn’t drink either, so also never has to deal with hangovers. All the time Seongwoo has spent doing these things, Minhyun had the time to properly study. Sometimes, Seongwoo thinks it’s unfair, but then again, he only has himself to blame. “And it’s not like I stopped studying, I’m just letting my brain take a break,” Minhyun says with a smile as he lowers his book slightly and turns his head toward Seongwoo’s direction.

“By reading a book…” Seongwoo deadpans, his eyes still narrowed from tiredness.

“It’s fine, books relax me,” Minhyun shrugs.

“Weirdo.” Seongwoo never got, doesn’t get and never will get how reading a book, reading a page filled with tiny letters can be relaxing, but to each their own. If getting a headache makes Minhyun happy, who is Seongwoo to tell him no. After all, partying and drinking makes Seongwoo happy, and drinking also gives headache.

“Worry about your own test.” Minhyun return his gaze to the book for a while before looking at Seongwoo again. “By the way, how long have you been awake?”

Seongwoo tilts his head and raises an eyebrow, but answers Minhyun’s question nonetheless, “I haven’t slept since I woke up at 6 yesterday.”

“At six…” Minhyun stops to think for a bit, book now resting on his laps. “So it’s been a bit more than 34 hours… I see, so I’ll need to run away within the hour if I don’t want to be victim of your whining…”

“What are you talking about? I don’t whine,” Seongwoo retorts, trying to glare at his friend, but the tiredness of his eyes makes it hard to even keep them open, so all he can really do is look at Minhyun with a half dead gaze.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t call it whining, I don’t want to be there when you start questioning your life choices. I had enough with that last week.” Last week, Seongwoo was in the first phase of ‘catching up with University’ and he had pulled his first awake-for-more-than-35-hours. A disaster. That’s why he’s doing it again. Minhyun picks up his book again, closing the conversation and leaving Seongwoo painfully trying to scowl at him.

 

Minhyun does end up running away from their room to the cozy and calm library. Seongwoo does end up with an enormous headache and no one to complain to about his life choices. And although it takes them a lot of effort (and some tears), the two of them end up passing their tests with flying colors.

 

 

 

 

A few days after the end of their mid-terms, during one of those long awaited holydays, Minhyun suggests a movie marathon to get their mind off from the tests, an idea Seongwoo immediately agrees to. After wandering in the video library of their dorm for a while, going in circle for no less than fifteen minutes, they finally decide to settle for some marvel movies.

The two first movies they watch once they get back to their room are Iron Man 1 and 2. Although both of them have already watched those plenty of times, they still take a lot of pleasure re-watching them.

And it’s in the middle of their third movie, The Avengers, that Seongwoo proposes for movie marathons to become a regular monthly thing as they list a long sequence of movies they want to watch, re-watch or recommended by their friends.

And so it does become something regular. Not monthly because that would be a little too much, but bimonthly instead. Once every two months, they find a day they aren’t too busy and they settle in front of the TV with a list of movies to watch. Beer in Seongwoo’s hand, grapefruit juice in Minhyun’s and random snacks to munch on as they let themselves sink into the couch.

They don’t really know why or how, but wordlessly, their bimonthly marathon becomes something they prioritize over everything else. And the unspoken rule of never cancelling their marathon for anything else once the set date has been decided appear.

Minki qualify that as worshiping, Minhyun says it’s cherishing and appreciating their relaxing time.

“Same difference,” Minki deadpans, a smoothie in one hand and his phone in the other as he checks the photos of his cat his mom sent him.

“You say this as if we have some kind of unhealthy obsession.” Minhyun’s lips protrude out and his face slowly forms a scowl.

“You do have some kind of unhealthy obsession, though,” Minki says before slurping on his drink in a way that always leaves Minhyun confused between laughing at him and gaping, so he just ends up staring blankly at him, half-assed smile on his face. This time, though, he merely narrows his eyes at him, showing not only his disagreement, but also his discontent. “Glare all you want, it’s not going to change that fact.”

Minhyun huffs and drinks his own drink in silence, knowing full well he can’t win against Minki. He has never been able to. No one can win again him.

 

 

 

 

“Hey you’re here again?” after several trips to the café, the guy Minhyun recognize as the barista greets him. His name is Sungwoon, if his tag is reliable. “You’re alone today?” he asks after Minhyun greets him back with a nod of his head. Minhyun usually come with Seongwoo and if not, with Dongho or Aron. But today, he feels like having some quality ‘me-time’, and that’s why he is currently standing alone in the café.

“Yes, I didn’t feel like making someone tag along, so I came alone.” Besides, forcing Dongho to come would have meant treating him. Especially since it’s just a few minutes after ten, on a holyday, synonym of a Dongho-sleeps-until-noon day.

“You must have really wanted to have one of our drinks, then. What will it be today?” Sungwoon asks Minhyun for his order with a bright smile.

“I’ll take a grapefruit smoothie and a chocolate cupcake.” Grapefruit smoothies are Minhyun’s favorite. A good quality ‘me-time’ should always include grapefruit smoothie for Minhyun. The cupcake is just an extra, since he feels like having chocolate today.

“Sure, wait a sec.”

Sungwoon walks away from the counter and Minhyun watches him prepare the drink and before long, he is coming back to him with a cupcake in hand and his smoothie in the other one.

“Here you go,” Sungwoon says with a cheerful glee as he puts down Minhyun’s order on the counter. Minhyun grabs his bag to take out his wallet but before he can even take it out, Sungwoon stops him. “You don’t have to, it’s on me.”

“Eh, but…” Minhyun is confused as to why someone he has barely ever talked to would treat him, and really, the only times he has actually done so was right at this counter, buying cakes or drinks. He is also sure he’s never seen the barista anywhere else, be it at the dorm or on the University campus.

“You’re a friend of Jisung hyung, right?” Sungwoon ignores Minhyun’s protest and continues.

“Yes, do you know him?” Which wouldn’t be weird at all since Jisung knows a lot of people. Sometimes, Minhyun would wonder how it is realistically possible to know that many people. Or maybe it’s just the difference between the amount of friends Jisung has and the amount he has that makes it impressive.

“Yeah, he told me to look out for two rather tall and handsome first years,” Sungwoon starts and Minhyun blushes slightly at the word ‘handsome’. It’s not his first time hearing it, but it still makes him a bit embarrassed. “Minhyun and Seongwoo, I believe. I suppose that’s you and you’re friend. Or you’re friend and you,” the barista continues.

“The first one. I am Minhyun,” Minhyun clarifies.

“Oh, then the one that often comes with the coma hair is Seongwoo,” Sungwoon deduces after he is given Minhyun’s name.

“That’s right.”

“Nice to meet you. As you can see on this tag, my name is Sungwoon. Ha Sungwoon. I am a second year student in business,” Sungwoon points the tag stuck on his shirt as he introduces himself.

“Hwang Minhyun, first year in communication,” Minhyun follows suit and introduces himself too.

“I know. Jisung told me,” Sungwoon says with smile.

“He did?”

“Yeah, Jisung talk a lot about you and Seongwoo.” Sungwoon sees the smile on Minhyun’s face falter to make place to a look of surprise and continues, “You seem surprised. He is really fond of you two, you know.”

“It’s normal that he talks a lot about Seongwoo since they’ve known each other for a long time, but I’m a bit surprised he talks about me too. We’ve only known each other for about two months.” Minhyun already guessed Jisung must brag a lot about his childhood friend since Seongwoo is handsome, smart and funny. He didn’t know he leaves an impression strong enough for Jisung to talk about him. It surprising, but Minhyun feels slightly proud of this information.

“He talks especially about you.”

“Really? What does he say?” Minhyun asks, voice coated with a thin layer of curiosity.

“He says things like, and I quote here, ‘I wish this World was made of Minhyunies.’ Because his roommate never cleans up or something.” Minhyun chuckles. Jisung had previously mentioned his roommate to Minhyun too. He had then begged him to ditch Seongwoo and to come live with him instead. But due to the dorm rules, it isn’t feasible, so Minhyun never took it seriously.

 

Minhyun and Sungwoon hit it off really well because they continue to talk for about fifteen minutes during which Minhyun learns more about the older one. Unlike most of the people Minhyun knows, Sungwoon doesn’t live in the dorm because his house is only at a distance of five minute by foot from the University, that’s why Minhyun never saw him in the dorm, although he does wander around from time to time. The two of them and are only stopped when the café’s manager comes and scold the both of them for delaying Sungwoon’s work.

And Sungwoon does end up paying for Minhyun’s coffee and cupcake, but not before arguing about it for another five minutes with him.

 

 

 

 

Finals are dreadful. Not quite used to the pace, Seongwoo and Minhyun find themselves being closed up in their own room the majority of the time, well, Seongwoo especially. Minhyun actually every so often steps out and joins Jonghyun to study together since they find it easier to remember when they talk it out. Seongwoo is more of a write everything a hundred times to remember or follow the example type of person. But when he stumbles with his economy class, he finds himself tagging along Minhyun and Jonghyun to a study room where Minhyun takes the time to explain everything he doesn’t understand.

Both of them end up passing every exams without too many difficulties, although Seongwoo does have a small break down right before the economy exam and before they even realize, summer has already come and replaced spring.

 

 

A week into their break, while Seongwoo is eating on the couch, watching random videos on his computer, he accidentally drops it on the floor as he jumps at the sight of a spider next to him. The result is a broken computer and an angry Minhyun who scolds him about dropping his food on the couch and on the floor.

And that’s exactly why Seongwoo finds himself smiling at customers as he takes care of their order one by one. Seongwoo does have enough to buy a new computer, he actually even already bought it, but seen the money drop drastically in his bank account made him decide to look for a part time job. He had been in luck the fast food two streets away from the University had been looking for a part timer. Minhyun had been the one who informed him about it.

Seongwoo had initially planned to spend his days waking up at noon and lazing in the dorm all the duration of the break, but his plans are now just a great memory of the past as he starts his shift at six in the morning. When he had told Minhyun the devastating news, the other only laughed at his face, such a great friend. Seongwoo is still suspicious of Minhyun. He should have known something was weird when he had helped him find a job. Minhyun probably bribed the owner to put him at that hellish shift, even though he still denies knowing anything.

 

One good thing (and the only one, really) about working that early is that there’s almost no one. Because who even eats greasy fries or burgers so early in the morning? They do have things like coffee and donuts that could make a somewhat okay-ish breakfast, but at the price they are sold and being at the quality they are, Seongwoo doesn’t understand why anyone would buy them. Sure, there are still a few people that wander around from time to time, but it’s never really busy.

So when he sees no less than five people entering at once in the early morning, he knows something is wrong. Especially when all five people are people he knows. Amongst them, the devil himself, Minhyun. The others include Jisung, Minki, Dongho and Sungwoon.

“Are you here to mock me?” Seongwoo says as Minhyun and Jisung approach him while the others seat themselves at a table.

“Excuse me? Can’t we, normal citizens, just normally buy food at a normal fast food?” Minhyun feigns innocence and Jisung nods fervently next to him. Any other person might have believed Minhyun, but Seongwoo isn’t that gullible. And more importantly, he knows Minhyun. It might have only been half a year since he’s known the other, but he knows how petty and childish Minhyun could actually get.

“At seven in the morning? During break? Sure, Hwang. How did you even convince the others to tag along with your plan? I mean, how did you get them out of bed to follow you here so early in the morning?” Only Minhyun would be crazy enough to wake up so early in the morning during breaks and days off, maybe Jisung on a good day. The others were probably all bribed to follow him with his weird devilish plans.

“I didn’t have to. They tagged by themselves.” Minhyun gives Seongwoo a bright smile. The kind that makes his eyes disappear. It makes Seongwoo want to hit him. But he restrains himself because violence at the workplace certainly wouldn’t look good and breathes in deeply to keep his calm.

“Why would they do that?” Seongwoo asks after he breathes out and narrows his eyes at Minhyun.

“Who would pass the chance to mock their friend?” Jisung enters the conversation. Of course. Because in truth, all his friends are evil. Seongwoo was stupid to think that only Minhyun would try to annoy him. That was such a beginner’s mistake and Seongwoo wants to slap his own face.

“I don’t know what you guys are up to, but I’m not giving you a discount, if that’s what you’re after.” Seongwoo tries to deepen his frown. His face is going to be so tired out after this, but Seongwoo can’t bring himself to care at the moment.

“Of course not. I wouldn’t dare.” What annoys Seongwoo the most here, is that Minhyun still smiles innocently, as if he was truly only there by coincidence.

“Really, what are you all here for? It’s not like you can embarrass me in front of anyone, there’s no one. Even if there was, there’s no reason to…” Sometimes, Seongwoo just can’t understand what his friends are thinking about and can’t grasp their logic.

“I told you, we’re just normal citizens, just normally buying food at a normal fast food.” At that, Seongwoo glares at Minhyun with all his might.

“Seongwoo, smile!” the manager scolds him when he passes by as he sees Seongwoo making faces at customers.

“What will it be, dear normal customer that isn’t trying to bother me?” Seongwoo forces a smile as he clenches his fist.

“Two strawberry milkshakes, one ice tea, one bubble milk tea, one iced coffee, two chocolate donut , three cherry iced donut and one glazed donut,” Jisung tells Seongwoo the order as the latter types the orders in the computer. Jisung takes out money and hand it to Seongwoo.

“I’ll be back with your order soon, please wait a moment,” Seongwoo says after giving back Jisung’s change, the smile still very present and very forced on his face.

After taking care of his friends’ orders, Seongwoo finds himself forgetting about them now and then, but every time he turns his head to his left, he catches at least one of them snickering at him. And it certainly doesn’t help that they are probably the slowest customers Seongwoo has ever seen since he started working here.

In the end, his friends don’t hinder his work at all, apart from the cackles that come from their table and the fact that they stay two whole hours sitting there, slurping their drink and munching on donuts.

The same evening, Seongwoo makes sure to make Minhyun understand that he is annoyed by ignoring the other and leaving dirty clothes here and there in the living room. He probably should have thought twice before doing the later one because when Seongwoo gets back to the room a few days later, he is met with a weirdly clean room. After he had first dumped his clothes everywhere on the floor, Minhyun had made no move to pick them up. He first think Minhyun got tired of seen his clothes lingering in the living room and probably dumped them in Seongwoo’s room. The problem only dawns on Seongwoo when he doesn’t see his clothes in his room, or in Minhyun’s, or in the bathroom, or in any closet or drawer existing in their room. That’s when Seongwoo asks Minhyun what happened to his clothes with a tinge of fear clinging to him. That night has Seongwoo rushing down the stairs to the clothes recycling bin outside the dorms to try and save them from being taken away.

 

 

 

 

Good things always must come to an end, just as summer break must end. Seongwoo and Minhyun slowly starts their second semester. The beginning is painful because they had just spent two months doing nothing much other than lazing around. Especially on Seongwoo’s part. Drinking nights away with friends in random bars is nothing but sweet distant dream.

But after a week, they are already back to their usual routine. Waking up early, staying up late studying. Minhyun spends even more time in the library as he picked a literature class that requires him to read one book every two weeks.

“I knew you were crazy, but I didn’t know you were this crazy,” Seongwoo says one evening after seeing the pile of books Minhyun comes back home with, his eyes wide from admiration, or terror, he doesn’t knows. A mix of both, perhaps.

“It’s not that much, I’ve borrowed more in high school.” Minhyun puts down the books on the table and starts to sort them. Probably in order to be read.

“I know you’re this crazy, but I didn’t know it could be even worse than this.” This time, a look of amusement adorns Seongwoo’s face. Somehow, he doesn’t have that much of a hard time imagining seventeen years old Minhyun carrying a pile of book, so tall it almost covers his head, already completely obstructing his view, as he tries to navigate himself without bumping on anything.

“I thought you said you didn’t know I was this crazy.” After sorting out the books, Minhyun hops on the couch and opens a book, getting ready to begin the first one. “Anyways, at that time, I didn’t have much to do, so I just read.”

“What about studying?” Seongwoo joins Minhyun on the other side of the couch and starts to fiddle with his phone.

“Well, it certainly wasn’t as intense as now.” Of course, he studied regularly, but the amount of effort needed prior just can’t be compared to the amount of effort and time University takes. In high school, Minhyun used to be able to read every day. Now, he barely finds the time to leisurely read more than once a week. He is usually always busy studying and when he is not, he sleeps. Because University not only already takes away some sleeping time but it is also really draining.

But for this course, basically, all he needs to do is to read those books and make a short summary and analysis about it, and he is more than happy to indulge. Of course, he doesn’t forget all his other courses that need actual studying, but at least, now, he can peacefully read without feeling too guilty.

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo and Minhyun don’t cook very often. The reason being that they usually eat either at the University cafeteria or at the dorm cafeteria and in some rarer case, they eat out. From time to time, they cook some ramyeon, but that’s as far as it goes with cooking.

Which makes Seongwoo completely ignorant of Minhyun’s cooking level. But he assumes he is a good cook since he seems like someone that likes doing house chores. So he doesn’t think about it much when one day, he asks Minhyun to cook some rice for him.

When he comes back to the dorm, the rice is already in the rice cooker and he thinks he can relax, but then, he spots something weird. Something that shouldn’t be out, and especially not at a place like that.

“Minhyun?” Seongwoo starts calmly, trying to think of a reason it would be there of all place.

“Hm?” Minhyun acknowledges Seongwoo with a short hum from the couch where he is reading a book.

“Why is the detergent there, on the counter? Right next to the rice bags?” Seongwoo asks softly, scared of the answer Minhyun may provide him in a very near future. He dreads for the worse, but he still has a bit of hope, because Minhyun isn’t that stupid, right?

“To wash the rice?” All hope come crashing down and a headache comes in rather quickly.

“You…! The...! What?” Seongwoo stutters. He can’t even form a string of two words together anymore. This is unbelievable. Not even talking about thinking that Minhyun was a decent cook, why can’t he even cook rice? Isn’t that basic? Even if he had never cooked before, why would he clean food with detergent?

“Don’t you need to wash the rice before cooking it?” Seongwoo doesn’t know if he should fervently nod or if he should just face palm hard enough to faint. Or to wake up from this weird dream.

“Of course you do! But you do it with water!” Seongwoo rushes to the rice cooker and stops the machine. Minhyun closes his book and approach the machine too.

“Really? But Dongho told me that I needed to wash it with detergent. Look!” Minhyun shows his phone to Seongwoo. On display, a conversation between him and Dongho with Minhyun asking Dongho how to cook rice. _‘Wash the rice with detergent, after draining the detergent off, put the rice in the rice cooker and push the start button.’_ And indeed, in the reply, Dongho says to wash the rice with detergent first. Of course Dongho would tell him that. Seongwoo will have to have a small talk with Dongho next time, but for now, he needs to take care of this mess. But then, he spots another quite worrying thing in Dongho’s message. Seongwoo opens the lid and he is met with another surprise.

“What is this?! Why isn’t there water in there? You didn’t put any water to cook it?” Seongwoo turns around to look at Minhyun at his right, looking absolutely clueless. Now the rice is burnt and the pot will be a real pain to wash too.

“You need water to cook it too?” Minhyun says, as if he was just given the most jaw dropping information.

“Yes!” Seongwoo very much wants to rips his own hair out, but he restrains himself. He doesn’t have any plans of becoming bald anytime soon.

“Sorry…” Minhyun says, shame present in his voice.

In the end, Minhyun thoroughly washes the pot and Seongwoo cooks the rice again, showing each step carefully to Minhyun so he can learn how to properly cook rice, not that Seongwoo lets Minhyun cook anything anymore after this.

 

 

 

 

The day after their final exam, Seongwoo, Minhyun, Sungwoon and Jisung find themselves strolling around in the small Christmas market a bit further away from the University dorms. The market is lively, full of lights and people, and it certainly change from the University where half-dead people roamed around and basically lived and slept in the libraries and study rooms during the exam period.

Jisung had heard that there was a stall which sold incredibly tasty hotteok and convinced the other three to join him. And it’s no lie. When they arrive at the stall, it’s crowded. Sure, not as crowded as the train in rush hours, but it certainly is crowded for a market this size. The four of them need to stand in the line a few minutes before they can buy the pancakes, but when they do, they immediately scarf it down.

“Whoa! It really was worth the wait,” Sungwoon says as soon as he finishes his hotteok, “I should have bought more.”

“I told you so! And you kept complaining and being suspicious of my information gathering,” Jisung says, an affronted look sporting his face.

“Well, sorry, but last time I listened to your information, we ate soggy ramyeon that tasted like a mix of persimmon, coffee and kimchi,” Sungwoon deadpans with an empty look in his eyes, bad memories rushing back through his mind and tongue.

“I don’t even want to know where you ate that,” Seongwoo says, disgust written all over his face.

“Let’s leave the past in the past and only focus on the present,” Jisung brushes the two of them off and turns his head around to look at the different stalls, “Anyways, what else do you guys want to buy?”

“I want takoyaki,”

“I want toasts,”

Minhyun and Sungwoon answer at the same time.

“I saw a toasts stand around the corner over there, but are there any takoyaki stands?” Jisung puts a hand on his chin and bite his lower lip as he tries to recall all the stands they walked by. Toasts, soup, hot chocolate, waffles, fries, fish cakes, tteokbokki, tornado potatoes, and the list goes on, but Jisung is quite sure he didn’t see any takoyaki stands.

“Yeah, Jonghyun told me there was one a bit further on the other side.” Jonghyun had already waltzed through the market once with some of his older friends and had recommended Minhyun the takoyaki stand at the end of the street near the drugstore.

“I’m in for takoyakis.” Seongwoo raises his hand.

“Oh, then shall we separate here? I also want to get some toasts,” Jisung suggests as the opinions differ and the others agree with him. It’s probably more efficient if they separate. With only two people, it’s easier to move around.

After Seongwoo and Minhyun bid goodbyes to the older two, they head straight to the other side of the market and after they spot the takoyaki stand, they start to line. There aren’t that many people, so they don’t have to wait long before they are right in front of the stall and order two portions of takoyakis.

“I really like takoyaki,” Minhyun starts as they wait for their order, “Last time, when I went to Japan, we went to a takoyaki restaurant and it was so delicious.”

“Oh! But maybe, the takoyakis here aren’t the same as the ones you’ve eaten in Japan,” Seongwoo warns as a same food can taste completely different depending on where it is made. He has never gone to Japan before, but takoyakis probably taste different too.

“It’s okay, I still really like takoyakis. That’s just the story of how I fell in love with takoyakis.”

“Was it that time you went to Japan with Aron hyung, Jonghyun, Minki and Dongho?” Minhyun had previously mentioned being in Japan with them when Sungwoon had brought up the fact that Jonghyun would love to take a trip there after he had seen his manga collection.

“Yeah, well I don’t have that many other friends I could have gone with.” It was three years ago, during summer, alongside Jonghyun’s parents to accompany them and they had stayed there for ten days.

“Is Japan fun?” Seongwoo asks as he receive their order while Minhyun pays for the takoyaki.

“Yup! There are a lot interesting things to see! I would love to go again. Maybe after I graduate.” Minhyun pricks a takoyaki with the small fork and stuffs it in his mouth. The two of them walk a bit further away from the stand to make place for the others and they start to stroll in the market again.

“Is that why you’ve been saving up lately? I’ve seen you take a few part times now and then, but I’ve rarely actually seen you spend that money.” During the summer, while Seongwoo worked six am shifts at a fast food, Minhyun worked two pm shifts at an ice cream parlor a bit further down the street near the Daybreak café. Seongwoo would have loved to bother him in turn, but he had only known about it two days before Minhyun quit because Seongwoo had spent most of his afternoons sleeping. Before that, Minhyun also worked a bit as a cashier in a mart during the first semester.

 “Well, there’s that too, but I want to become independent as soon as I can. I don’t want to rely on my parents too much. They’ve already done so much for me,” Minhyun smiles as he answers.

“Yeah, I get what you mean. And I really want to repay them for everything they’ve done for me too.” Seongwoo pops a takoyaki in his mouth and blissfully savor it.

“I’ve always wanted to quickly grow up so I could fully support my family.” It doesn’t have to be paying for all their living expenses, but inviting them to dinner from time to time, or buying some present every now and then. This is something Minhyun had always wanted to do.

Soon enough, all the takoyakis are finished and they start to look for some other stands. They end up buying a lot more food, from soup to fries, as well as fish cakes, and by the end of the night, they are completely full. A bit too much even, as Seongwoo keeps complaining during their walk back to the dorm.

 

 

 

 

Two days before Christmas, Seongwoo and Minhyun both leave the dorm. Back to their own house. Spending the holidays with their family, they don’t see each other or any of their friends again before the New Year, on the 4th January.

Seongwoo is the first one to be back. In fact, he is already back by the evening of the 3rd. So it isn’t surprising that when Minhyun comes back, he is met with the sight of Seongwoo wrapped up in a big duvet watching the TV.

“Oh, you’re back,” Seongwoo is the first one to talk when he spots Minhyun from the corner of his eyes, “I thought you were only coming back tonight?” Minhyun had originally said that he would come back in the evening only, so Seongwoo is slightly taken aback.

“Yeah, but it’s going to snow a lot later today, so I decided to come back before. Don’t want to be stuck in the snow.” Minhyun takes off his shoes and his coat. Although Minhyun’s parents had told him he could just stay at home for a few more days, Minhyun was very keen on following the schedule he had planned out. Besides, he needs to give back a book he had borrowed in early December.

“Did you miss me that much?” Seongwoo snickers.

“Shut up and scoot aside,” Minhyun says and Seongwoo moves slightly to his right, leaving a space for him. Minhyun sits down and tugs on Seongwoo’s duvet. Before long, he successfully steals it and covers himself instead. The outside world is cold. Too cold. Seongwoo’s duvet is warm. Very warm.

“Hey! Thieving is bad!” Seongwoo pouts as he can’t do anything but watch his warm and comfortable blanket being snatched away from him.

“Shut up, I’m trying to get what’s happening here.” Minhyun chooses to ignore Seongwoo’s whines and tries to focus on the movie that Seongwoo was watching.

“Basically, the two male leads who just discovered they were long lost brothers are brawling for the girl’s attention.” Seongwoo gives up his duvet and focuses his attention back to the TV, filling in for what Minhyun missed.

“Is it any good?” Minhyun asks.

“It’s crap,” Seongwoo says as he gets up to walk towards the kitchen and pour some milk in a mug before he warms it in the microwave.

“You seemed pretty absorbed by it, though.” Minhyun recalls the focused look Seongwoo had when he entered the room. Eyes fully focused on the TV and mouth slightly open.

“Exactly. I’ve never seen such a messy movie that it became fascinating.” Seongwoo takes out the mug after the microwave stops with a ‘ding’, puts some cocoa powder inside and stirs it with a spoon before coming back to the couch. He hands wordlessly the mug to Minhyun who accepts it with a smile.

Afterwards, they just continue to watch the movie (the girl ends up with a third guy who popped out of nowhere near the end of the movie; Seongwoo wanted to rip his hair out “No, but I was rooting on Doohan! And where the hell did that dude even pop from!”), as well as some other dramas and before they know it, the day passes by.

 

The rest of their winter break is spend on watching more bad dramas and movie and being pestered by their friends in between. All is well, even if both of them are sure watching all those bad dramas made them dumber.

 

 

Around mid-February, it gets very busy in the dorm as new students come flocking in. Minhyun and Seongwoo are caught in the middle of the hallway while going back to their dorm after lunch and then are required to help out with moving various boxes around.

The amount of complain Minhyun hears from Seongwoo is slightly worrying and Minhyun is slapped with the reality of Seongwoo’s bad stamina when after only a few round-trips, Seongwoo’s breathing is fast and uneven.

At the end of the day, Seongwoo and Minhyun and the other students that helped are all treated to ice cream. Even though it’s cheap ice cream that has Seongwoo complain even more.

“All that effort I gave, for this… thing?” Seongwoo glares at cone in his hand, hoping that maybe if he just stares at it, it will eventually magically change into something more to his liking. Something like authentic Italian ice cream. Or even just ice cream from a good ice cream parlor, the one next to Daybreak café where Minhyun worked for a while for instance. Just not this cheap cone found in every supermarkets around the corners.

“Stop being so picky and just eat it,” Minhyun says as he throws away the wrapping in the trash can. “It’s free food, we’re poor students. How can you complain?”

“How is it free food? I had to work with my body, I had to give my sweat and my tears!” Seongwoo theatrically says as he squeezes his eyes shut, his left hand forming a fist. Minhyun rolls his eyes.

“Stop being dramatic, the ice cream is going to melt. If you get ice cream on the floor, you can say goodbye to your dear life,” Minhyun warns and Seongwoo gulps as he knows the older boy isn’t just throwing an empty threat at him. Seongwoo had already dropped food on the floor before and he is still slightly traumatized from how angry Minhyun had been.

There’s nothing he can do. His ice cream is obviously not going to change into something else, and if he continues to just stare at it, it’s really going to melt and make a mess everywhere, making Minhyun angry, so Seongwoo decides to just eat it anyways. With a scowl on his face, because just because he eats it doesn’t mean he likes it.

When the person in charge says there are leftover ice creams, Seongwoo rushes to get one more.

 

 

 

 

 

They wouldn’t really say their second year is easier than their first year because it’s not, if anything, it’s as hard, or even harder, but they are already more used to the pace. Not losing a day to study properly and this time, Seongwoo is careful to appropriately manage his time table so he doesn’t end up going out too much.

Seongwoo prefers it to his first year because he has more chemistry related courses than the year before. The first years have a lot of common courses like economy and such, and then, all the science student also had a lot of shared courses too. This year, he still has some common courses, but it’s better. He is also very excited about a course he has been eying since the start of the previous year. The teacher in charge of that course also taught first years and had given a small description on what was that course which completely drew Seongwoo in. He doesn’t regret it as it quickly becomes his favorite class.

 

As for Minhyun, the courses don’t change that much from the year before. Of course, the content does, but it’s still more or less in the same category, in the same style, with a lot of already familiar teachers. This year, he has a course that has him analyze a different movie every months, having to write down a page of summary and full analysis for each movie, an extreme challenge as a true full analysis would take very much more than just one page. But it’s nothing he cannot do with a bit a work, a lot of shortened sentences and some sacrifices. Straight to the point.

                                          

Jisung becomes even harder to reach than the year prior, but that’s understandable since he is in his last year. Dongho has more and more courses at the very other side of the campus, near the hospital and Aron quickly becomes busy with projects too. Minhyun and Jonghyun have also chosen more different courses, so they don’t spend that much time together anymore. Adding on the fact that everyone’s schedule not exactly matching up, it makes it harder for them to meet up.

But they still take the time to make sure everyone’s alright. They take the time to properly meet up too. They still all live in the dorm except Sungwoon, so they are always within each other’s reach. A call from Sungwoon who was just dumped and they all find themselves in Jisung’s room, where Sungwoon had taken shelter, to comfort him. Some of them even putting on hold some important school work. But it’s fine, because Sungwoon needs his friends by his side.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s only a few days past the end of the mid-terms when Seongwoo and Minhyun are disturbed from their drama binging when Sungwoon greets them at their door. Minhyun is the one who opens the door because Seongwoo doesn’t even show the slightest intention to get up.

Once inside, Sungwoon sits down and waits for Minhyun to return from the kitchen. “Minhyunie? Could I ask you a favor?”

“Sure, what is it?” the younger answers as he offers Sungwoon some tea.

“You’re good at writing, right?” Sungwoon happily accepts the beverage and takes a sip.

“Eh…? Why?” Being told he is a good writer makes Minhyun a little flustered. Even though Sungwoon probably only said that because he knows that Minhyun write from time to time. Because he is quite sure Sungwoon never actually read anything he’s written before.

“A junior of mine is trying to write a song, but he has no idea about how to write lyrics. I was wondering if you could help him.” Sungwoon lowers the mug to puts it on the low table in front of him and raises his head to gauge the younger’s reaction.

“But I’ve never written lyrics?” Minhyun looks at Sungwoon in confusion.

“I know, but you like to write and read poetry, don’t you, so, that’s still that. And that’s also more experience than every single person I know,” Sungwoon adds as he try to convince Minhyun to give him a hand.

“But I don’t know how to help him? I mean, it’s not exactly the same.” Sure, he’s written tons of reports for school, he may have taken interest in poems and he may have also written for the school’s newspaper before, but he doesn’t know if they are similar enough for him to be able to help with lyrics writing.

“Yeah, but he wanted someone’s opinion. I really don’t know about these kind of things. But Minhyun, you could give him some good feedbacks,” Sungwoon pleads, putting his two hands together.

“Well, I guess I can read what he writes and then give my opinion about it,” Minhyun agrees after thinking for a while. If it’s just going over what he had written, he could certainly give an advice or two. He doesn’t think he could help him any further, but if that satisfies them, then why not?

“Really? Thanks Minhyunie!” Sungwoon beams at the affirmative answer.

“Wait! Are you going to do it? You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while, but, how come Sungwoon hyung always gets to ask you favors for free and I have to pay for them? I thought we were best friend!” Seongwoo abruptly steps in the conversation, a frown on his face.

“Sorry. Hyung advantages,” Minhyun deadpans as he looks away from Seongwoo.

“Oh! I’ll make sure to repay you, of course!” Sungwoon exclaims. “You always help me out so much. I’m starting to feel bad. Next time, I’ll treat you braised short ribs,” he says with a big smile on his face.

“You don’t need to. Only Seongwoo has to pay for my help.” Minhyun offers a sweet smile as he puts his hands out in front of him, rejecting Sungwoon’s offer. By no means is he going to let Sungwoon pay him in any way.

“Wait! Why only me?” Seongwoo, even more shocked than seconds ago, rises his voice and whines at the unfairness.

“Cause you’re my best friend?” Minhyun offers, but Seongwoo isn’t going to take that as the answer.

“I thought it was a hyung advantage! What happened to all the people that don’t fall in that category?” There are flaws in Minhyun’s words and Seongwoo is not going to let it slide. If he can get away with not having to sacrifice his wallet everytime he needs Minhyun’s help for something, that would be The personal victory of the year, scratch that, it would be The personal victory in Seongwoo’s life.

“Nunas get nuna advantage. Dongsaeng get dongsaeng advantage,” Minhyun says as a matter of fact. Of course. He would always be that great dongsaengTM that helped out his elders at the first chance he got, the great hyung that pampered his juniors and the perfect oppa that girls liked to watch from afar. “As for the same ages, I owe Jonghyun too much to make him pay for my help, Dongho bribes me regularly and when he ask for the favor, he brings up all the bribes he’s given me and Minki is Minki, so yeah, you’re the only one left since I don’t have that many more friends,” He adds after thinking for a while.

“Well, at least, there’s Dongho,” Seongwoo gives up. He is doomed to treat Minhyun to grapefruit flavored stuff for as long as he needs to ask him favors. Well, some things just aren’t meant to be changed. Or maybe he could ask Minki some advices on how to be more Minki. But he probably would have to pay for that too.

“Well yeah, you could say so.” Minhyun turns his head back to Sungwoon. “So, when do I help?”

“Oh, if it’s not too much of a bother, is now a good time? Jaehwan has already written a bit.” Jaehwan being, Minhyun is going to assume, Sungwoon’s junior that they are talking about. “You could help him with that. I don’t think he’s going to make any progress, anyways.”

“Of course, lead the way.” Minhyun smiles. It isn’t like he has anything important to do. His initial plan had just been to watch TV all day. Mid-terms are already in the past and there is currently no project or homework in the process. The only thing he’d miss would be this weird drama running on TV. He can perfectly pass on this weird drama.

“Alright, let’s go.” Sungwoon downs the hot drink, puts the mug on the table and heads toward the door enthusiastically.

“Are you coming, Seongwoo?” Minhyun asks Seongwoo as he sees that the other one has still made no effort to get up from the couch. Not even one movement. One would think that he glued himself there.

“Nah… Don’t feel like moving around, I’ll just continue to watch this drama,” he answers, eyes fixed back on the TV already.

“Ok, see you later.” Minhyun follows Sungwoon, but stops as he is about to step out. “Oh! If you’re staying here, can you clean the mug?”

“Yes, your majesty.” Seongwoo waves at him, eyes focused on the lead actor trying to trick the young students into thinking that folding paper cranes would give people super powers later on in their life. Such a stupid idea. Just who came up with that? Obviously a writer that doesn’t know what to do with the story and just added that as a filler.

Satisfied with Seongwoo’s answer, Minhyun closes the door and lets Sungwoon lead the way.

“Oh, before we get there, I’d like to apologize for the mess that you’ll see. Jaehwan doesn’t seem to know the word clean and his roommate just gave up two weeks into their cohabitation. Sometimes, I try to organize things a bit for him, but since I don’t live here, I can’t really clean up that often,” Sungwoon says as they walk, an apologetic expression on his face.

The two of them walk to said Jaehwan’s room and when they enter, they are greeted with the sight of a guy, sprawled on the floor, head down, looking at a notebook, papers and pens scattered around him. There are clothes laying everywhere around the room and dirty plates are left on the table and in the sink. Sungwoon definitely wasn’t exaggerating when he said that it’s a mess. It’s even more than that. It’s purely chaotic. Minhyun can barely see the floor and the couch is completely buried under piles of clothes too. There were even socks hanging on the TV. This leaves a very unsettling feeling in Minhyun as he is taken by an urge to clean up everything.

“Jaehwan! I brought help!” Sungwoon cheerfully calls out to his junior and the latter looks up. Now that the guy has lifted his head, Minhyun can see some horrible eye bags clinging on his face. His eyes themselves didn’t look any better and seems to have lost any kind of shine, almost black, of tiredness probably.

“Is he the one you talked about?” Jaehwan slowly gets up from the floor and before long, he is standing on his feet right in front of Sungwoon and Minhyun. He is quite a bit shorter than Minhyun but he isn’t that short either, his built isn’t that great but he doesn’t qualify as frail either. Just a good in-between average body shape.

“Yeah, this is Minhyun, and this is Jaehwan, the one that needs help with his lyrics,” Sungwoon does short introduction as he gestures between them.

“Nice to meet you,” Minhyun smiles and greets.

“Yeah, nice to meet you. Thanks for helping me out.” Jaehwan bows back.

“Well, I don’t know if I’m going to be of that much help, thought. I’ve never written lyrics before. The closest was poetry,” Minhyun scratches his neck as he clarifies. He still isn’t quite sure how this is going to work out yet and feels a bit guilty that he can’t help the guy better.

“It’s fine, that’s already more experience than everything I’ve done,” Jaehwan reassures him and smiles in turn.

“Well, now that I’ve brought Minhyun to you, I’ll be going,” Sungwoon says as he waves from the doorway and closes the door after the younger two bid him goodbye.

“Can I take a look at you’ve already written?” Minhyun asks, disrupting the small silence that made its way in as Sungwoon went out.

“Oh, of course.” Jaehwan squats down and fumbles with the papers on the floor. Now that Minhyun takes a better look at them, he can see that most of them are music sheets. Some of them look handwritten while others seem printed out. It’s quite a while before the boy on the floor finally pulls out a notebook previously buried under the mess. He flips through the pages and hands it to Minhyun when he finds the right page. “Here you go.”

Minhyun reads through the puddle of words that are scribbled. There isn’t much, but honestly, it isn’t too bad, it looks good, even. But some sentence are a bit messy, and obviously rushed.

“It’s not bad, but there are a few things that I would point out.” Minhyun approaches Jaehwan and holds out the notebook so that the both of them can see what Minhyun refers to. “Here, the way you wrote this sentence sounds a bit weird.”

“Where?” Jaehwan comes closer to see where Minhyun was pointing. “Oh, yeah, I didn’t really know how to express it,” Jaehwan says as he scratches his head, his face contorting in frustration.

“What about this?” Minhyun bends down and picks a pen from the floor to write on the book. He writes down the sentence that Jaehwan had previously written, but changes a few words and some formulations while still keeping the same length.

“Whoa! I never thought of writing it like that! It looks so much better! You’re a genius!” Jaehwan excitedly exclaims after reading Minhyun’s modification, eyes glittering with admiration.

“What?” Minhyun chuckles, his ears reddening slightly. “You’re exaggerating. I’m not a genius.”

“Believe me, you are!” Jaehwan turns his head to Minhyun. “Oh, wait. What about this one?” Jaehwan points to another line and Minhyun offers some more advices.

They continue with everything Jaehwan had already written and Minhyun even stays to help him come up with the rest of his lyrics and before they know it, two hours have already passed, a real miracle Minhyun successfully stayed in a room like that for so long. So when Minhyun heads back to him own room, it’s already past six.

He opens his room’s door and Seongwoo is unsurprisingly still exactly where he was left earlier, watching dramas, though the mug that was placed on the table a few hours ago is now nowhere to be seen.

“You sure took your time. A bit longer and I would’ve thought you got abducted. You forgot your phone too,” Seongwoo says over the screams of the actors coming from the TV in what looks like some kind of horror drama. He raises his hand and Minhyun sees his own phone in Seongwoo’s hand.

“Sorry, we got a bit too much into it, I guess. We didn’t realize that much time had already passed,” Minhyun apologizes as he had forgotten to contact Seongwoo. But since he didn’t even have his phone with him, it would have been useless.

“It’s fine. Let’s eat now, I’m hungry.” Seongwoo gets up and turns off the television. He walks up to Minhyun and hands him his phone.

“Yeah. By the way, I told Jaehwan I’d meet him in the cafeteria with you so I can introduce you.” Minhyun takes a step back, out of the room and Seongwoo follows him. Once both of them are in the hallway, Seongwoo closes the door to their room.

“So, how did it go with this Jaehwan guy? Were you helpful?” Seongwoo locks the door while Minhyun waits for him, a few steps ahead.

“Well, I’d like to believe I was. He progressed a lot with his lyrics and I said I’d review them again after he finishes,” Minhyun replies. It would be sad if the two hours Jaehwan and he spent writing lyrics were useless.

The two of them then proceed to head down to the cafeteria where they are met with Jaehwan and his roommate Sewon, a freshman studying history. The four of them then chat away the evening with music and dance as topics.

 

 

 

 

The first term just finished with the finals and Minhyun is inside Daybreak café ordering a strawberry short cake. As he waits for his order at the counter, he realizes that Sungwoon is alone behind the counter, working frantically. Usually, they are always at least two of them, three in busier hours, but today, only one person is running around, getting the orders. So when Sungwoon comes back with his order, Minhyun decides to asks him.

“Hyung, are you alone today? That’s rare.” Minhyun reaches for his cake.

“Yeah, the kid who should be working with me now quit because of some problems. We’re still looking for his replacement,” Sungwoon answers with a sigh. He obviously looks very tired from all the running around. “It would have been great if you had accepted the job last month.” Minhyun remembers how Sungwoon had come to him one afternoon, asking him to apply for the job at the café. Minhyun had rejected him because he wanted to focus on his exams and then they had found someone else, so the subject never came up again.

“Well, I’m not busy anymore, if you want I could help out.” Now that he had finished all his exams, Minhyun was thinking of getting a job anyways, so the opportunity is perfect.

“Really?” Sungwoon’s face lights up at Minhyun’s words.

“Excuse me, could you chat later?” a customer says quite edgily as she tries to get Sungwoon’s attention back on the line of people waiting to order.

“Yes, I’m sorry, of course.” He turns back to Minhyun for a second. “Minhyun! We’ll talk about this later. Definitely!” Sungwoon rushes back to the customer line and busies himself around the café again.

By the end of the day, Minhyun finds himself in the staff room, discussing with the manager. After taking care of the paper work, he is shown around, even though he already quite know the café. He is taught how to use the cashier register as his main job will be to handle it and to serve. The coffee will still be taken care of by Sungwoon.

 

Working at the café isn’t too hard. Since he is already familiar with it. And it’s also not his first time working with a register, so Minhyun doesn’t have any difficulties handling it. Even during rush hours, it’s bearable. During calm periods, Minhyun busies himself by chatting with Sungwoon or by cleaning around.

What gets tiring is Seongwoo constantly pestering him during work. Coming nearly every day, sometimes with Jaehwan, sometimes with Minki and/or Dongho, sometimes alone, to bother him.

“What do you mean, I’m bothering you? I’m merely visiting my favorite café where you happen to work at,” Seongwoo says in a faux voice during dinner after Minhyun brings the topic up.

“Seongwoo, you usually don’t go more than once every two or three weeks, yet you’ve been there four days in a row, just this week,” Minhyun points out.

“Well, I thought that I should go more often.” Seongwoo stabs a small potato with his chopsticks. “I realized how much I missed out for not going to the café every day.” He stuffs the food in his mouth.

“Just two weeks ago you were crying over your wallet.” Minhyun scowls, his lips forming a thin straight line.

“That **you** emptied.” Seongwoo frowns at him. After a very small, a miniscule mistake he had made, he had to sacrifice his money to buy short braised ribs to ease a pouty Minhyun.

“Well, you should have thought twice before breaking the vacuum cleaner.” Seongwoo had been playing who knows what with it, and when Minhyun had come back to their room, Seongwoo was kneeling, facing the door, eyes fixed on the floor, a guilty look on his face and the vacuum cleaner was broken and scattered in pieces next to him. “But you know what I’m saying. Why do you go there?”

“To get back at you for last year, of course,” Seongwoo says as he drops the act. The chopsticks are slammed on the table as Seongwoo leans forward in his chair and glares at Minhyun.

Minhyun sighs. “Last year?” He does know what Seongwoo is referring to, but he still asks anyways.

“You don’t remember? You came with a bunch of our friends at the mart while I was working just to mock me!” Seongwoo sits back properly on the chair and picks up his chopsticks again.

“There’s a difference though, I bothered you when there was no client. You’re bothering me in the middle of the day, with the café filled with customers.” Last year, he had went to bother Seongwoo at work too, but it had been at around seven in the morning. Now, Seongwoo is bothering him at two in the afternoon. During summer break, where most of the customers are students, it makes a big difference.

“Well, you should have just chosen the six am shift.”

“The café opens at ten,” Minhyun deadpans. From ten in the morning to seven in the evening. With Minhyun working from one to four. Seongwoo, he, gets to the café at around two almost every day.

“Too bad, you’re stuck with me bothering you in the middle of the day, then,” Seongwoo says in a mocking tone as he smirks. The feeling of having won over Minhyun, the feeling of successfully carrying out his revenge leaves a sweet taste in Seongwoo’s mouth and he feels prouder than ever. Now, he just has to be careful of eventual retaliation from Minhyun. But he’ll worry about that later.

“I wonder why I’m friend with you, sometimes.” Minhyun sighs as he puts down his utensils after finishing his own plate. He grabs a tissue and wipes his mouth. Seongwoo isn’t finished with his plate yet, so Minhyun just waits patiently for him, his head resting on his palm.

“I wonder that too,” Seongwoo says, knowing full well that none of them really mean it. Seongwoo cherishes this friendship and he knows Minhyun does too. In the end, they are both glad to have met the other. Enduring each other’s banter, supporting the other’s weird decisions, annoying their other friends together. And much more. So much more.

“Besides, we only went to bother you once. You’ve been coming a total of seven times in those two weeks.” And Minhyun wasn’t the only perpetrator at that time. Minki, Dongho, Jisung and Sungwoon were all there with him, so Minhyun finds it a bit unfair that he is the only one getting that treatment. And Sungwoon since he also works at the café, but then again, Seongwoo could have bothered Sungwoon before that too, so it’s very obvious Minhyun is his main target.

“Your own fault. You should have maximized the number of times you came to bother me while you could. Always make the most of every each opportunities life gives you. If life gives you lemons, press the hell outa them until they’re completely dry,” Seongwoo says as he takes a napkin and twits it until the tissue gets all crumpled up and ripped, illustrating his words.

“You’re making too much out of it. And I’m pretty sure that’s not the saying.” Minhyun takes the napkin away from Seongwoo before he can destroy him further and urges him to quickly finish his food with a gesture of his hand.

“I can never be too much, what are you talking about?” Minhyun doesn’t answer and just sighs instead. He’ll find a way to get back at Seongwoo later. For now, he is tired and just want to hurry and get back to their room, so he stays silent to let Seongwoo quickly finish to eat.

 

 

Two weeks later, he does get back to Seongwoo as he hands him some wasabi-filled coffee and a chili pepper flavored cupcake when he gets back to the dorm, claiming that it as a gift from the café manager. In truth, it was a cupcake Sungwoon and he had baked with some help from the manager. To make sure Seongwoo suffers thoroughly, Minhyun had strategically placed a bottle filled with salted water on the table, so when Seongwoo reaches for the bottle to relieve his tongue from the chili, he is met with instant regret, written all over his face. Minhyun will have to clean up the floor later on, but it is absolutely worth it.

 

 

 

 

Before summer, Jisung was already quite hard to catch since he is already in his last year at the University. But it gets worse after the summer break. It then becomes almost mission impossible. They sometimes they a glimpse of Jisung, but after blinking, he disappears once again. Always running around here and there to collect data and to talk to professors or just taking roots in a remote library to work on his papers. And when they do see him for more than five seconds, all they can see are the horrendous eye bags hanging on his face.

Seeing the older one always tired out is heart breaking, so Seongwoo, Minhyun, Aaron and Sungwoon decide to join force to make Jisung take a rest day and to take care of him.

After spending half an hour to convince Jisung to take a day off, they lead him to Minhyun and Seongwoo’s room where Sungwoon begins to give him a massage. Seongwoo, with the help of Aaron cook some food for him and Minhyun, not allowed near the kitchen after the event of the last October, plays errand boy. In fact, he is the one who runs down the street to the café to buy Jisung his favorite blueberry tartlet.

At the end of the day, after finishing his small fest, Jisung thank his friends. And he is so touched that tears start to pour out from his eyes as he sobs uncontrollably.

“T-Thank you g-guys. It was… r—really the grea-greatest d-day fo…r me,” he says as he tries to even his breath and control his tears. He is failing, obviously.

“Why are you crying again?” Sungwoon tries to calm down the older boy by patting his back. Jisung had already cried once when he was first presented the food Seongwoo and Aaron had made and it took him a long to stop and to finally eat. He then cried because the food had gone a bit cold and he felt guilty since Seongwoo and Aaron had spent so much time on it and he just let it go cold because of his incessant crying.

“Hyung, your handsome face is getting ugly,” Seongwoo says as Minhyun takes out some tissues and hands them to his sniffling friend.

After letting down his tears for a while, Minhyun’s tissues runs out and Jisung finally calms down, eyes red from the crying and face still damp and equally as red as his eyes.

“You’ve been working really hard. You deserved it, hyung,” but just as Minhyun says, Jisung begins to sob once again, eyes tearing up. This has Aaron quickly run back to his own room to look for more tissue, since he is the one who lives the closest to Minhyun and Seongwoo.

“What did I do in my previous life to deserve such great friends?” Jisung says before biting his lips to prevent himself from letting his tears fall down.

“And now, I’ve used up all the tissues here.” When Aaron comes back with three boxes of tissues and hand them to Jisung, the sobs intensify once again. “I’m sorry, you’re all so great to me, but all I’ve done is use all your tissues and jam your trashcan.”

They know that if they say anything to console the older one, his tears would fall even more, so they just stay wordlessly beside him, patting his back, as they let him calm down on his own. And although it almost take a whole hour, they don’t complain. They’d never complain about Jisung. Because that’s how much they all care about him.

 

 

 

 

It’s not an unfamiliar scene, Minhyun taking out the snacks and Seongwoo squatted down next to the TV, about to put a DVD in the player. They are preparing for their September movie marathon.

Seongwoo is the one choosing which movie to begin with this time and he examines each of them with precious care as he hesitates between two movies. After a few more seconds of reflection, Seongwoo finally makes his choice. By that time, Minhyun has finished gathering the snacks and heads back to the couch.

“Ah!” Minhyun, snacks still in hands, stops right in front of the table.

Seongwoo, startled by Minhyun, turns around, movies still in hand. “What’s wrong? Did we forget your grapefruit juice?” Beer for Seongwoo, juice for Minhyun. That’s how they always go for their marathons. The snacks are just randomly chosen. Now, Seongwoo is sure that he had restocked on the beer two days ago but he doesn’t keep track on Minhyun’s juice, so that’s the only possibility left.

“I forgot I had to give back some books I borrowed. They’re due today.” Minhyun puts down the snacks and head to his room. “I’ll run to the library to give them back,” Minhyun declares as he comes out with four books in his arms. He puts them on the table and pulls out an eco-bag from the drawer to put them in.

“I’ll go. You went through two all-nighters this week, you’re probably tired.” Seongwoo stands up from the couch and walks to Minhyun before taking the bag away. Minhyun had to finish an important project earlier the week and had to push through to complete it. During those days, Seongwoo had volunteered to do the cleaning in his stead and even brought him food in his room. To be exchanged with future free lunches, of course.

“You don’t need to, I don’t feel that tired. The library is just down the street.” Minhyun tries to take the books back, but Seongwoo doesn’t let go.

“Knowing your speed, you’ll take too long.” Minhyun loosens his grip and glares at him. Seongwoo takes advantage of his distraction and slips further away. “Well, I’ll be right back,” He says as he waltzes toward the door.

“Hey! Wait, aren’t you going to get cold if you go out like this?” Minhyun stops the other from taking another step further as he points out that Seongwoo is only wearing a simple T-shirt.

“It’s fine, it’s still warm,” Seongwoo answers as he closes the door. It’s still September, after all, which means that it’s still summer, even if the weather has instead started to get a bit chillier. Just a bit. Not enough for Seongwoo to need to wear extra layers. For now, a T-shirt is sufficient.

Seongwoo walks down, books safely tucked in a bag. And while the walk to the library is pretty uneventful, just as he leaves the library, he spots someone trying to collect papers as wind plays tricks on him and keeps blowing the papers just slightly further. The wind is pretty strong, today. Pretty funny too. Seongwoo takes pity on the poor guy and decides to help him.

“Here you go,” Seongwoo succeeds catching two of them and hands them back to their owner. The man thanks him and takes them back.

“Ah!” Just as their hands make contact, the stranger lets out a small shout.

Seongwoo looks up to the guy and sees that his eyes had lit up, stars almost palpable in his gaze. Cold sweats run down Seongwoo’s spine and he stays frozen for half a second and he swallows his saliva. He had already seen that look before. The look people have when that happened. The look his very own sister had made after she bumped into that person when she and Seongwoo were out grocery shopping. When Seongwoo finally looks down on his own wrist, he confirms his suspicions.

A red band.

Symbolizing the bond between two soulmates.

“Great! So you’re my sou-” the guy excitedly starts before he is cut when Seongwoo puts his palm up to stop him.

“Sorry, but I have no interest or whatsoever about this. Actually, if possible, I’d like it if you forgot that this even happened. I don’t mean to say that I hate you or anything, you seem like a good guy an all,” Seongwoo says, eyes looking down to the cat patterned folder for a short while before continuing, “But I don’t want to pretend I’ve found the goal in my life by becoming lovey dovey with a guy I don’t know.” Seongwoo knows it’s a lot to ask. Growing up, everyone gets told that finding their soulmate is the greatest goal in their life, it’s attaining pure happiness. And he is rejecting this guy’s so called pure happiness.

“Oh… Euh….” The guy is obviously shaken. He probably never ever thought about a scenario like this and Seongwoo almost feels bad. Almost. “Euh… Well, euh, could we still, euh… be friend? I mean, I may be imposing, but, euh…” the stranger scratches his head, lost about what he should do.

“Well, acquaintance should be fine for a start, nice to meet you, my name is Ong Seongwoo.” As Seongwoo says this, he can see the disappointment growing stronger on the other’s face, but still, he doesn’t want to force himself being friend with a stranger just because they happened to be linked with a band. If anything, the guy should be grateful Seongwoo even wants to have anything with him. His initial plan was to ignore his soulmate forever, after all. But tonight, Seongwoo feels charitable so it’s acquaintance or nothing because as charitable as Seongwoo might feel, everything has its limits. And acquaintance is the limit of his charity.

“My name is Kang Daniel. Nice to meet you, Hong Seongwoo,” the guy introduces himself, his voice and smile giving away a hint of sadness.

“It’s not Hong. It’s **Ong** ,” Seongwoo rectifies, stressing on his name.

“Eh? Oh, I’m sorry! Ung, euh… Ong?” ~~the guy~~ Daniel quickly corrects.

“Yes, Ong. Not Hong, not Gong, not Ung, but Ong,” Seongwoo sighs. This part of introducing himself is always a pain, why do people always misunderstand his name… It always takes a few times before they finally get that his name was indeed Ong. But thinking about it, Minhyun had gotten it right immediately, he’s the only one who had said his name correctly right away.

“Oh!” Daniel’s eyes opens wide and cheeks reddens slightly. Is he that embarrassed about getting his name wrong? Who knows? Seongwoo doesn’t pry.

“Don’t sweat it. In my whole life, I’ve only encountered one person who actually said my name correctly on their first try.” Before meeting Minhyun, it used to be ‘No one ever said my name correctly on their first try’ but now, he feels a little proud that Minhyun had gotten it right. Why proud? That’s a question that Seongwoo leaves unanswered.

“No! Euh, I mean, euh… nice to meet you?” Daniel extends his hand and Seongwoo stares at it for a while before grabbing it.

“Yeah, nice to meet you, I guess. Sorry, but I can’t stand around forever, I need to go. My roommate's probably already worried.” Knowing Minhyun, he’ll probably nag at him for taking so long. He’ll undoubtedly scold him for being out that much time with only a T-shirt. Oh, and he’ll certainly mock Seongwoo because he had pretended to be able to do the trip faster than Minhyun.

“Okay, euh, sorry for holding you up,” Daniel quickly bows as he apologizes.

“That’s fine, bye.” Seongwoo turns around and walks away before Daniel even has the time to say goodbye.

 

“You’re late, I was starting to get worried, you know? What was it about me being too slow, now?” when he enters the room, Minhyun greets him immediately from the couch where he is reading yet another book. For some reasons, Seongwoo’s right hand, the one on which the band appeared, automatically hides behind his back.

It doesn’t make sense. Minhyun and he aren’t lovers, or soulmates, or anything, just friends but for some reasons, Seongwoo doesn’t want Minhyun to know about this. It’s not like Minhyun doesn’t understand his point of view about soulmates and would force him with this Daniel guy, Seongwoo just doesn’t want Minhyun to know. Why? Seongwoo doesn’t know.

“Seongwoo?” The lack of response makes Minhyun look worriedly at Seongwoo.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, there was a small incident. A guy let his papers lose outside and was trying to pick them up but the wind wasn’t helping, it was quite pitiful to watch so I decided to lend him a hand.” That’s the truth, just not the whole truth. Seongwoo feels hesitant to talk about the band on his wrist, so he doesn’t.

“Is the wind that strong, outside? Are you alright? I told you, you should have worn something more. It’s still summer but it’s starting to get chilly, especially at night. Be careful not to catch a cold.” Seongwoo rolls his eyes. Minhyun is always like this. Too caring of the others. You’d wonder if the guy actually has two hearts to care for so many people.

“It’s not that strong, it’s just that every time he tried to get ahold of a paper, it’d fly one meter away. It was quite a sight to see.”

“Well then, if you say you’re alright, let’s start this movie marathon?” Minhyun puts the book on the table next to snacks he had prepared earlier and gets up from the sofa.

“Wait, I’ll get changed first, I dirtied my shirt trying to save the guy’s papers. Wouldn’t want to get the couch dirty, right?” Now, that’s a lie because he hadn’t actually tried that hard to get back those papers, but what Minhyun doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.

“Okay, hurry up.”

Seongwoo heads to his room, changes his t-shirt, picks a long sleeved sweater out and puts it on. It’s a bit of a drag, but it will make it easier to hide the band. Seongwoo still doesn’t know why he is going through so much trouble to hide something that he shouldn’t even feel the need to hide, but he’ll think about it later. He’ll think about everything later. Tonight is movie night and he isn’t going to let this soulmate bullshit ruin it.

“The great me is there, we can start the marathon!” Seongwoo announces as he steps out of his room.

“Hm? Didn’t you say that it was too hot to be wearing a sweater? Did you get cold after all?” Minhyun is wrapped in the sheets he probably took from his own room. Two cans of beer and some juice had joined the snacks on the table.

“Well, if we’re going to do a marathon, then, we’ll probably be up until pretty late, and it’ll get chilly then, so I figured I’d put a sweater from the start. Besides, I said warm, not hot.” Minhyun scoots over to give space to Seongwoo and unwraps himself before laying the blanket on both their legs.

“Let’s start!” Minhyun excitedly says as he pushes the play button, starting the first movie of their marathon.

 

(By the end of the third movie, Minhyun and Seongwoo had both fallen asleep, comfortably snuggled against each other on the couch, half-finished snacks, laying forgotten on the table, Seongwoo’s wrist still perfectly tucked inside the sleeve of his sweatshirt.)

 

 

 

 

Eventually, Seongwoo gets used to the band on his wrist. Or maybe that’s because he takes the habit to wear long sleeved shirts. Even though doesn’t like that fate thing, at least he’s thankful that it had happened when the weather had started to get cold. Otherwise, it would have been harder to keep it away from his friends. In the end, he doesn’t only not tell Minhyun, none of his friends know about it and not even his parents. If he tells one of his friend, the friend would immediately tell Minhyun since their friend circle is about the same. If the friend is one of his rare non-common friends, he’ll tell Jisung who’ll tell Minhyun. Because Jisung knows everyone. If he tells his family, they’ll tell Jisung’s family who’ll tell Jisung who’ll tell Minhyun. In the end, the outcome is the same. If he does tell someone, anyone, everyone would end up knowing, including Minhyun.

He still doesn’t have the answer as to why he puts so much effort so that Minhyun doesn’t know. It’s not like he’ll be able to hide it forever either. At some point, the weather will get warm and Seongwoo won’t have any reason to wear long sleeves anymore. But for now, he’ll just follow his gut feelings. And his gut feelings tell him to hide it from Minhyun.

 

 

To be very honest, Seongwoo had thought that he wouldn’t meet his so called soulmate ever again. None of them actually knows anything about the other. And unless the guy ran around asking for his information (in which case, Seongwoo would be very annoyed, so annoyed he would feel the urge to punch the guy, so annoyed that he probably wouldn’t restrain himself from doing so), the chances that the two of them would randomly meet again are actually quite slim. He had met him in a place he nearly never went too. If anything, Minhyun has more chances running into him. But of course, ‘Fate’ is never that easy on Seongwoo.

 

Seongwoo first meets him again after he agrees to help out one of his teachers to hand out the first years’ homework in his stead because said teacher has an important reunion around the same time. When Seongwoo enters the class, a loud gasp comes from the middle of the class. As Seongwoo scans the classroom in search for the source of the sound, he spots the guy who was chasing after his papers. Daniel, was it? Talk about bad luck. Out of every classes on this campus, the guy just so happens to be in this very one? After handing out the homework, Daniel shyly walks up to Seongwoo and tries to start a conversation. Seongwoo doesn’t pay much attention and randomly thinks of an excuse before walking away.

 

The second time, he doesn’t have any escape paths as the very same teacher asked him to work on a project with a small group of first year students. Seongwoo actually considered turning down the offer but the teacher promised him extra credits and so he accepted. If he’s lucky, he wouldn’t have to deal with Daniel’s group. But of course luck isn’t on his side when he enters a small classroom to find the guy sitting beside three other students. But thankfully, through the two hours they work on the homework, Daniel never brings up the soulmate thing. Instead, he just come over to Seongwoo after they finish and the latter takes pity on him and decides to listen to him. Such charity and twice in a month! Minhyun would have been proud if he knew.

“How are you?” Daniel starts shifting awkwardly on his feet.

“Fine, I guess.” Seongwoo doesn’t continue because he really has nothing to say. Charity or not, they are still basically strangers.

“Which courses did you pick?” Now, Seongwoo hadn’t exactly expected that kind of questions, so he’s slightly taken aback.

“I’m a chemistry student,” that says it all. Seongwoo is still only a second year, which means that he still doesn’t have that many optional courses. The only great differences are based on which science department the student had chosen and even then, they have a lot of common courses. “You?” Seongwoo decides to indulge Daniel and asks back a question.

“Oh, I’m a physics student.” After Daniel answers, none of them know how to continue the conversation and eyes wonders around, avoiding each other for a while until the younger one opens his mouth again, “Were the exams hard last year?”

“It was alright. If you study hard enough, they’re all doable. From what I saw today, you probably won’t have any problem for this course.” Thorough the two hours session with the first years, Daniel had been the most active one. He also had almost no problem answering most of the questions.

“Really?” The guy rises his voice in excitement before letting out a long sigh. “To be honest, I’m very worried about the exams because it’s going to be the first time doing a test for university and for a subject I chose myself too, I’m kind of scared.” Daniel scratches the back of his head as he looks up shyly.

“Well, it’s everyone’s first time. You don’t need to worry too much about it. Like I said, if you study well enough, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Seongwoo says, eyes settling towards Daniel’s direction.

“Yeah, I know, that’s what everyone tells me, but I still get worried. Sometimes, when I’m doing an exercise, I just don’t know what I should do and it gets so frustrating. And those are just exercises, I’m scared about what the exams will look like.” Daniel’s face is filled with anxiety as he sighs.

“That happens to everyone, it’s not just you. At times like that, you can just ask a teacher or an upperclassman to help you, you know? Sometimes, exercises are just as, or even more, nasty than the actual exam. If you need help, I can lend you a hand too.” Seongwoo had expected that the guy would have started to talk to him about their relationship, about their bond, but none of that. Daniel had talked to him, not as an annoying person trying to get their soulmate, but as a normal cute underclassman looking for advice. And Seongwoo can’t stay the jerk he is with anxious cute underclassmen.

“Eh? Really?” Daniel can’t believe what his ears just picked up and stares incredulously at Seongwoo.

“Yeah, I’ll give you my number, if you have a question, you can ask me. Oh, but, remember, I’m a chemistry student, so I didn’t take all of your classes, so I probably can’t answer everything. Well, if you desperately need help in those courses, I know a guy in physics, so I can ask him to help you. But both he and I are busy, so don’t abuse either, ok?” Seongwoo extends his hand, waiting for Daniel’s phone.

“Th-Thank you!” Daniel almost screams with a big smile on his face as he takes out his phone, creates a new contact and hands it to Seongwoo. The latter puts in his number and gives the phone back to Daniel who then types the older one’s name and saves the contact. With this new contact in Daniel’s phone, the two of them parts ways once again.

 

 

 

 

Minhyun is dead tired. His head hurts too. The lecture had already gone over thirty minutes the normal time and the teacher doesn’t seem like he’s going to stop anytime soon. Minhyun yawns, it’s getting really hard not to fall asleep. He can’t even write down anything properly anymore. Even Jonghyun is getting drowsy next to him. He had noticed some people sneaking away too and as tempting as it is to follow suit, he’s too tired to even try that. So Minhyun waits. And he has to wait another fifteen minutes before the teacher stops his lecture and everyone rushes out of the classroom.

Together with Jonghyun, the two of them quickly walk back to the dorms and bid goodbyes as Jonghyun joins Minki and Aron, Minhyun too tired to hang out. Instead, he takes the stairs to go straight to his room. A short nap before studying seems like a good plan. If he’s lucky, the headache will go away in the meanwhile too. If he’s not, he’ll just have to rely on painkillers.

When Minhyun opens the door, he is greeted with the sight of Seongwoo sleeping on the sofa, the TV playing some kind of variety show. Minhyun takes off his shoes and walks to Seongwoo’s room to take his blanket before coming back in the living room.

As he approaches Seongwoo, he sees Seongwoo’s wrist which is wrapped with a red line. He gets closer and observes it. It’s such a pretty red. Minhyun has always loved the red of the band, he would always stare at his parents’. Maybe because his own is black. On the band, a golden wave-like design is carved. He stays crouched down staring at the band without moving, as if mesmerized by it, headache entirely gone, and it’s only when Seongwoo stirs awake that Minhyun stops.

“Minhyun? When did you get back?” Seongwoo rubs his eyes, but as he opens them, he freezes and immediately hides his hand behind his back.

“Eh? Why are you hiding it?” Minhyun inquires, but Seongwoo stays silent. “Were you scared I’d force you to get with your soulmate? You know I wouldn’t do that.” A pout forms itself on Minhyun’s face.

“N-No, of course I know you wouldn’t. I just didn’t know how to bring it up, I guess,” Seongwoo answers, slowly bringing back his hand in front of him.

“How long have you had it?” Minhyun stands up and his eyes fix themselves on the red band, entranced by it again.

“For about… one month?” Seongwoo says as he hesitates slightly.

“A month? Were you even going to ever tell me?” Minhyun, startled from the information, detaches his gaze from his friend’s wrist and looks at him with a perplexed expression.

“It’s not that important, is it? Like you said, I don’t intend to get with him.” Seongwoo scratches the back of his neck. He knew that Minhyun would be annoyed the moment he finds out Seongwoo had hidden such a big thing from him. But in truth, soulmates are nothing big to both Minhyun and him, so why are the both of them so agitated?

“Still! You should have told me!” After finishing his sentence, the surprise on his face disappears to let the pout come back again.

“I’m, sorry. You’re right, I should have told you. How about I make it up by treating you galbi jjim, next time?” Seongwoo tries to smile it off and bribes Minhyun with his favorite dish.

“Don’t think I’ll let it slide this easily,” Minhyun says, but Seongwoo knows he won from the way Minhyun tries to hold his pouting face. He can’t resist galbi jjim after all.

“Of course not.” Seongwoo gets up and pulls Minhyun to sit on the couch instead and takes the blanket from his hand. Minhyun then watches Seongwoo return the blanket to his room with a weird feeling he can’t exactly pinpoint. A few seconds later, he feels his headache coming back and slowly hurries to his room to get some sleep.

 

(The pain from his head does go away when he wakes up two hours later when Seongwoo calls him to eat, but the weird feeling still lingers.)

 

 

 

 

The next time Seongwoo talks to Daniel, it’s actually through texts first, when Daniel asks him a few questions for the economy course. Explaining everything through texts is too hard, so the two of them decide to meet up in the library after lunch the next day.

And it’s only after agreeing the time and the place of the tutoring that Seongwoo realizes that he has a small problem. Or maybe a slightly bigger than small problem. Although he said that he would help Daniel, economy really isn’t his forte. He has no problem explaining from where came which formula used in other courses, but economy and politics aren’t really in his range. That and the fact that as soon as he knew he passed the course, he forced himself to empty his head from everything that he learned for it. The only way for his brain to not run out of space. It was only a course he needed to take the first year, anyways. He probably still remembers a few things, but the more he thinks about it, the less he feels capable of explaining things clearly. He really doesn’t know what pushed him to tell Daniel he’d help him with that course.

“Wait. You also had an economy class last year, right?” Seongwoo suddenly blurts out while Minhyun and he are in the living room, Seongwoo watching TV and Minhyun busy reading a book. It’s a class that nearly every faculty has to go through, for God knows what reasons, including the philosophy and letters faculty under which the communication students are.

“Of course I did. Who helped you study for it? Glad to know you remember,” Minhyun answers, eyes focused on his book. The year prior, he had spent three hours straight to explain all the different concepts and ideas to Seongwoo after the latter one’s brain short-circuited and came complaining to him.

“You nothing to do after lunch tomorrow, right?” If he can get Minhyun to help him, then, his problem would be solved. Minhyun is an excellent tutor. Although he doesn’t do it very often. He is patient when he does and would calmly explain something if the other doesn’t understand, even if he has to do it a hundred times. He would also try to find creative ways to remember what’s difficult to remember. The real problem, now is to convince him to help.

“Well, if studying is ‘nothing’, then yes, I guess I have nothing to do.”

“Can you help me out?” Seongwoo asks, hope discernable in his voice.

“Didn’t you hear? I have nothing to do.”

“Please, I’ll buy you some grapefruit juice,” Seongwoo tries.

“Try harder.” And fails.

“I’ll treat you grapefruit juice three times and I’ll clean up the room for two weeks,” Seongwoo knows it’s useless to try to negotiate, so instead of losing time, he directly proposes a deal he knows Minhyun would accept. 

“Now, we’re talking!” Minhyun closes the book he hadn’t stopped reading until now and looks at Seongwoo with a smile.

“You little shit…” Seongwoo mutters.

“Sorry? I didn’t hear you clearly. Did you want to raise the offer to three weeks?” Minhyun puts out his ear as if trying to hear Seongwoo better.

“Nothing. I said ‘you’re so handsome, Minhyun.’ ” Seongwoo puts on a forced smile. Two weeks is already a lot, three weeks would intolerable.

“So what do you need help with?” Minhyun drops his stupid smile and asks with a more serious tone.

“Can you tutor someone for me?”

“For economics? Well, I suppose I could. But you’re telling me you gave away two weeks of freedom for a tutoring session?” Minhyun looks amused. Maybe he offered a bit too much, but Seongwoo isn’t in the mood to bargain. Bargaining with Minhyun is tiring, anyways.

“Well, I promised I’d help him. I didn’t want to go there and tell him to find a way on his own.” Seongwoo doesn’t want to break his promise. Soulmate or not. That’s something that goes against his principles. “By the way, I should tell you. The kid’s my soulmate.” Last time, he had to treat Minhyun to galbi jjim twice for him to stop being sulky, so it’s probably better to tell him rather than him finding through Daniel. Even if Daniel doesn’t say anything, the moment Minhyun sees Daniel’s band, he’d know.

“Your soulmate? I thought you wanted to ignore your soulmate? But you’re helping him, now? Did -” Before Minhyun can continue, Seongwoo cuts him.

“I didn’t change my mind. I just see him as an underclassman, nothing else. He was feeling scared about university, I just offered him some help. And I’m telling you because my wallet wouldn’t be able to survive another sulky you so soon.” He already has to buy him grapefruit juice and even though that’s not too expansive, galbi jjim is.

“I’m glad you didn’t just tell him to never see you again or to get lost, it probably already must have been a shock for him to hear that his soulmate didn’t want to go out with him.” Minhyun goes back to his book as he gives a small smile.

“Yeah, of course… Ha…Haha…” He hadn’t. He had just strongly wished to never meet him again. And truthfully it had only been luck that made them see each other again. He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to deal with his soulmate again. But that, once again, Minhyun doesn’t need to know. 

 

 

The next day has Minhyun and Seongwoo heading to the library. Once there, the two of them choose an empty table and sit down facing the other. They are a bit early, but with nothing better to do, they headed there right after eating. Seongwoo takes out some materials to study by himself while Minhyun keeps himself busy with a book.

 “Hello, eum…” after thirty minutes or so, Daniel arrives and greets, slightly confused at the sight of a stranger.

“Oh, hi. Daniel, this is Minhyun,” Seongwoo gestures toward Minhyun and Daniel bows to him. “Actually, today, Minhyun’s the one who’s going to be helping you with economics-”

“Because Seongwoo sucks at it,” Minhyun adds.

“Hey! Hwang!” Seongwoo snaps his head back at Minhyun and glares at him.

“Is that wrong, Ong-ssi?” Minhyun looks at Seongwoo, giving him the smile he uses when he knows he is right. And this time too, he is right.

“No, it’s not…” Seongwoo gives up the fight, knowing full well that he won’t be able to win that one. He turns his head back to Daniel and continues, “Anyways, you heard him, it’s not my forte, so Minhyun’s going to help you instead.”

“Oh! Is he the one you mentioned was another physics student you knew?” Daniel asks, recalling the last discussion he had had with Seongwoo when the older one had given him his number.

“Probably not since I’m a communication student, but this economic course is mandatory for almost every faculty,” Minhyun answers in Seongwoo’s stead.

“Oh, I see. Well, thank you for helping me out even though you don’t know me.” Daniel bows again.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to worry about that. Shall we start?” Minhyun pats the chair next to him. Daniel hurries to sit down and takes out his notes and a pen.

 

After two hours of explaining and repeating, Daniel and Minhyun had gone through what Daniel had wanted to and the two of them decide to end the tutoring there. Minhyun had taught in a way that made everything sound so clear and Daniel finally understands everything.

“Thank you very much for today!” Daniel cheerfully says as the three of them step out of the library. “How could I return the favor?”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to do anything,” Minhyun rejects the offer.

“Is there really nothing I can do?” Daniel insists, a dejected look on his face.

“Ace the exam, that’s enough for payment.” Minhyun smiles.

Daniel hesitates for a while before letting a shy smile show on his face as well. He then excuses himself and as soon as he is out of sight, Seongwoo turns his head towards Minhyun.

“You made it sound like you were doing it for free. As if I wasn’t going to be stuck cleaning the room and treating you juice.” Seongwoo frowns with narrowed eyes.

“He already looked sad enough just knowing he couldn’t repay me. If he knew you were paying in his stead, he would have felt worse. Besides, you agreed to help him, I’m helping him as you requested.” Minhyun ignores Seongwoo’s glare and starts to walk ahead but before walking far, he stops and turns back his head. “By the way, was that a complaint?” His gaze, almost menacing, makes Seongwoo shivers.

“Of course not, your gracious majesty, I wouldn’t dare. Especially not after this great aid you have provided me with.” Wallet, Seongwoo. Wallet. Another sulky Minhyun should be avoided at all cost. What is pride, anyways?

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, Seongwoo would stare at his band and wishes it would just disappear. It’s stupid, anyways, this whole thing. Who ever thought it was a good idea to force two people together? But if something changes during the time he hangs out with Daniel is that he stops resenting the younger one. After all, he is also only a victim of fate. Once distaste thrown away, he discovers that the two of them get along really well.

If someone had told the Seongwoo from three months ago that he would have become good friends with his soulmate, he would have laughed at their face and told them to keep on dreaming. But now, he is glad that he had made a mature decision and decided to not ignore him for the rest of his life.

Daniel is a fun friend, although he certainly doesn’t change his whole world like people had always repeated he would. Truthfully, if anything, Minhyun seems more like his soulmate than Daniel - the two of them always understand the other without any words needed and spending time with Minhyun is his favorite way of spending time. But Daniel’s still a good person to hang with nonetheless. Seongwoo certainly likes the younger one, but he still has a lot to do if he wants to dethrone Minhyun from his place as best friend. But he is a cute underclassman for sure. (And his attitude is definitely cuter than Minhyun’s. Especially since the younger one doesn’t try to destroy his wallet at every given occasion.)

If anything, he’ll have to fight Daniel for his place as Minhyun’s best friend because they look closer each time he looks at the two. He can see Daniel adores Minhyun and that Minhyun cherishes and pampers the younger one a lot. The most dangerous thing about this would be Daniel picking up Minhyun’s habit wanting to destroy Seongwoo’s wallet.

Daniel eventually becomes acquainted with their other friends too. And Daniel fits really well in, as if he had always been there.

Jisung is weirdly enough the first one he meets, and the older one is somehow hit by a wave of motherly feelings because he takes care of the younger one like he has never for anyone else before, not even for Seongwoo. “Because you were always a cheeky brat,” Jisung says when Seongwoo points it out.

Jaehwan and he also hit it off really well. The two are in the same year and, although they aren’t in the same faculty, they hang out together the most. Their relationship is one where they keep laughing at and pranking on each other. By the end of the day, they are also the first one they talk to when they have a problem, although Daniel also talks a lot to Jisung and Sungwoon.

When meeting with Minhyun’s friends, Daniel is immediately charmed too. He especially grows an admiration toward Jonghyun and the two become gaming friends. Together with Minki, they like to go cat cafés and coo at the kittens. The two of them would then come back and show off all the photos they took. Aaron, the famous upperclassman studying physics, also helps him out a lot with his studies.

By the end of the year, Daniel isn’t the timid kid that wanted to be Seongwoo’s friend anymore. He is now fully part their friend circle and the shyness that had clung to Daniel at first disappears as he becomes more confident and comfortable around the others.

 

 

 

 

At the start of January, after Minhyun comes back to the dorm, Dongho invites him to a small barbeque restaurant he had discovered near the train station. When they get there, the restaurant is filled with just enough customers to neither feel like walking in an empty restaurant nor be uncomfortably squished by other customers, head aching from the noise.

“Minhyun!”

Minhyun doesn’t exactly knows how long he had stared into space, but he is brought back to reality when Dongho grabs his ear and shouts his name. He sees that the previously empty tables are now adorned with different kind of meat and side dishes they had ordered.

“How noisy! What’s wrong?” Minhyun moves away from Dongho, his mouth forming a pout, and rubs the ear that was screamed at.

“What’s wrong? I should be the one asking you what’s wrong. You keep staring into space.” Dongho sits back into his seat. “We didn’t get to hang out a lot because of the finals and when we finally do, you’re not even paying attention. I’m going to believe you dislike being with me.” Dongho takes the chopstick from his plate and begins to grill some meat.

“Sorry, I’m a bit tired I guess,” Minhyun says, rubbing his face with his hands. He picks his chopsticks too and starts to eat some pickled radish.

“Are you alright?” Dongho slows down his movements, without really stopping, and looks at Minhyun. The tone in Minhyun’s voice an indicator of his fatigue, Dongho doesn’t tease him with his usual banter.

“Yeah, I just don’t sleep that well these days,” Minhyun answers, chewing on his food.

“Is there something stressing you?” Dongho asks. By that time, his movements are already back to a normal pace as he fiddles with the meat on the grill. When Minhyun doesn’t answer, he presses further. “Is something wrong with Seongwoo?”

“Why would Seongwoo be related to this?” Minhyun never looks up, gaze always focused on the food as he watches the oil from the meat sizzling on the grill. In the best scenario, Aron would have been there to take care of the meat, he is the best cook Minhyun knows, but Dongho is the best second choice right after him.

This time, it’s Dongho’s turn to stay silent as he looks incredulously at his friend.

“Nah, it’s nothing. Idiot.” At the word ‘idiot’, Minhyun’s head snap upwards and glares at his friend with a pout.

“Idiot yourself,” Minhyun retaliates with a level similar to one of a five years old kid. And yet, he doesn’t feel ashamed at all. He knows his opponent isn’t any better than he is, after all.

“Big head,” Dongho reinforce Minhyun’s thoughts as he fires back with another insult.

“Dwarf.” After Minhyun answers back, they both stay silent. Each taking in the other’s word. The two of them continue to stare at each other for another minute before they are suddenly alerted with a burnt smell coming from the grill.

 

After Minhyun gets back to his room, he heads directly to his bedroom and flops down on the bed. He brings up his arms to eye level and stares at it. Or more accurately, stares at the black line on his wrist.

He doesn’t have a soulmate. He knows that. He’ll never be able to know how it feels, how a soulmate supposedly fills one’s life. He knows that too. He’s always known that and it never bothered him that much.

And yet, there’s a weird feeling in his chest when he looks at it as of the past few months.

Minhyun rethinks of what Dongho asked him during dinner.

‘Is something wrong with Seongwoo?’

Minhyun doesn’t know. Does it have something to do with Seongwoo?

Maybe.

Since the day he discovered Seongwoo had found his soulmate, he had spent a lot of time staring at the red line on Seongwoo’s right wrist. But that isn’t the weird thing. He had always done so when he saw someone with a red band. He had always been fascinated by that color. What differentiate Seongwoo’s band is the weird feeling Minhyun gets when he looks at it. It somewhat feels different. He had then found out he also gets a similar feeling when he looks at Daniel’s.

Maybe seen people close to him find their soulmate hit Minhyun more than he would have though. Maybe deep inside, he is truly envious. Maybe he is yearning for a soulmate too.

It’s with those thoughts swimming around in his head that Minhyun slowly drifts away to dreamland.

He doesn’t think about it that much anymore afterwards.

 

(He does actually. But he doesn’t talk about it. Letting those feelings sealed and unspoken of instead.)

 

 

 

 

Near the end of January, Sungwoon’s parents are out on a trip, leaving the house to Sungwoon. To make use of the opportunity, he decides to throw a party. A party to which both Seongwoo and Minhyun are invited.

Initially, Minhyun wanted to decline because he doesn’t really like parties that much, and it takes both Seongwoo and Sungwoon to convince Minhyun to go.

And he immediately regrets it as soon as he steps inside Sungwoon’s house. Alcohol smell hits his nostril strongly and Minhyun feels like he is going to puke from the odor alone.

So after greeting Sungwoon, he leaves Seongwoo and heads straight to the garden. They are a few people drinking there too, but the smell isn’t as nearly as strong as inside. He finds a chair and starts to read the book he had taken with him.

He shouldn’t have come after all. He’s probably just going to sit there until Seongwoo takes pity on him and allows him to leave.

Twenty minutes or so later, Seongwoo comes out too with of glasses of beer and sits next to him.

“Do you want a drink?” Seongwoo says as he shoves a glass to Minhyun.

“You know I dislike beer.” Minhyun puts his hand up to reject it. Beer has always tasted way too bitter for Minhyun’s taste. And even if it wasn’t, his tolerance is so low that after just one sip, he is as good as dead already.

“Come on, maybe now, you like it? People’s taste change you know?” Seongwoo doesn’t give up and hands him the glass anyways.

“No thanks.” Minhyun takes the glass and just puts it down on the table.

“You don’t know what you’re missing out on.” Seongwoo shrugs and drinks his own glass.

“Do you mean the damage done to your liver, the inability to think straight, the possible humiliation from doing something stupid or the hangover that inevitably comes in the morning?”

Seongwoo snorts. “Such a delicate flower. You can’t enjoy life if you don’t take some risks!” Seongwoo says as he points his finger at Minhyun, a smirk on his face.

“I still have a photo of you from that day.” Minhyun doesn’t specify which day he is talking about, but anyone who was there that day would immediately know.

“Oh, your precious grace, please forgive this mere commoner from being this discourteous.” Seongwoo too was there that day, so he immediately knows what Minhyun is referring to. In fact, he is the main reason that day stayed engraved in everyone’s memory.

“Glad you know your place. Now, get this beer out of my sight.” Minhyun flips his hand in a dismissive gesture.

“Yes, your preciousness.” Seongwoo takes back the glass he had handed Minhyun and rushes back inside. About a minute later, he is back with another glass. “I have brought you some orange juice, oh great Minhyun-ssi.” Seongwoo present the orange juice with his two hands, body bent in two as he bows and head looking down on the ground.

“Thanks.” Minhyun takes the juice and Seongwoo raises his head to look at Minhyun while biting his lips. He obviously wants to say something so Minhyun indulges him. “What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?” 

“Euh… Well, I was wondering if we could talk about the possibility of you deleting the photo of that day.” Seongwoo straightens up his body, but his eyes are looking down to his fiddling hands.

“Why? I like that photo. It always make me laugh. Do you not want me to laugh anymore?” Minhyun takes a sip of orange juice puts down the glass on the table, replacing the beer that was there just minutes ago.

“Of course not. If your greatness like that photo that much, who would I be to tell you to erase it.” Of course Minhyun won’t delete it. Such a great threatening material should never be erased. And really, it was Seongwoo’s own fault, so he can only blame himself for that photo existing. 

But this time, he is sure to get his revenge this time. Because Seongwoo knows about Minhyun’s non-existent alcohol tolerance. That’s exactly why Seongwoo mixed a bit of tequila into the very same orange juice Minhyun just drank from. He had been very careful so that the alcohol smell wasn’t too strong and in the middle of all sorts of drunk people, any remnant of the odor goes unnoticed.

Seongwoo is going to have his ears screamed at when Minhyun notices,  but for now, he is only exited about facing a drunk Minhyun. Since the start of the University, Minhyun had never drank in front of anyone. He had told that he tried at home with his family and it had gone horribly wrong. That information only adds excitement for Seongwoo.

Very quickly, Minhyun’s ears reddens and his eyes become hazy with a lack of focus. And Seongwoo knows he’s won.

“Oh! It’s Seongwoo!” Minhyun suddenly lunges forward right in Seongwoo’s arms. A smirk form itself on Seongwoo’s lips. He has accomplished his mission. Minhyun is drunk. 

Seongwoo takes mental notes on how Minhyun behaves. So far, he’s hugged him very tightly and rubbed his hair while rubbing his face against him. Very touchy. A bit too touchy if you ask Seongwoo.

“Seongwoo~ Did you know? I have a roommate! And his name is Seongwoo too!” Minhyun giggles after moving slightly away from Seongwoo. “Weird you look like Seongwoo too! Haha!” Minhyun grabs Seongwoo’s face and stretches it here and there.

Very interesting. Drunk Minhyun becomes an idiot. Seongwoo moved his face away from Minhyun’s hands.

“Oh, orange juice!” Minhyun exclaims loudly as he sees the drink he had put on the table. He takes it in hand and continues, “I like orange juice. Although I like grapefruit juice better. But shut!” Minhyun presses a finger to Seongwoo’s lips. “Don’t tell orange juice!” After finishing his sentence, Minhyun downs the drink.

This is funny.

“How are you guys? Having fun?” Seongwoo turns around and sees Sungwoon standing a few feet away from them. “Sorry, Minhyunie, you’re probably quite bored, right?” Minhyun puts down the glass on the table again and run to Sungwoon to hug him. “Euh… Minhyun?” Sungwoon freezes, taken aback from his Minhyun’s weird action.

“Nope! Sungwoonie hyungie invited us to this party with loooots of people! And then I drank orange juice!”

“Orange juice? Oh my god, is Minhyun drunk?” At the realization, a big smile form itself on Sungwoon’s face. “Whoa! Wait, I’ve got to film this for posterity.” Sungwoon detaches himself from Minhyun’s grip to take out his phone.

After having his human cuddle pillow taken from him, Minhyun turns around to face Seongwoo again and looks at him with a glare.

Before long, Minhyun’s arms are back around Seongwoo and Seongwoo pats Minhyun’s head.

“Don’t move, Seongwoo! I’m filming this!” Sungwoon says as he snickers next to them.

“Hey, Minhyunie, talk to us about this Seongwoo guy?” Seongwoo asks, trying to bite back a smile, and Minhyun slightly loosens his grip to look at him.

“Aren’t you Seongwoo, though?” Minhyun tilts his head. “Oh, you mean my roommate?” A big smile appears o  Minhyun’s face as things fully makes sense again in his head. “He looks exactly like you! And euh… He is a chemistry student, just like you! Maybe you know him?”

Seongwoo and Sungwoon both have to put a lot of effort to hold back their laugher.

“Drunk Minhyunie is so cute!” Sungwoon says and Seongwoo can only agree with him.

 

 

The two of them continue to play around like that with Minhyun and after Minhyun passes out, Seongwoo is the one who brings him back to the dorm and tucks him in bed before crashing in his own room.

 

 

In the morning, when Minhyun wakes up with a raging headache, he is confused. He remembers going to Sungwoon’s place, but after drinking that orange juice Seongwoo had given him, he doesn’t remember anything. And then, it clicks in his head.

“Seongwoo!” Minhyun scrams over his throbbing head. It takes him all his strength and it makes his ears ring, but he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t stop until Seongwoo is on his knees, swearing to never do something like that ever again and to listen to anything Minhyun says for two weeks.

 

(“Your attitude was so much cuter when you were drunk.” “Shut up, I’ll add another week.”)

 

 

 

 

Over the months Daniel has spent befriending Minhyun and Seongwoo, he discovers quite a few things.

One of them was how well the two of them fit. When Minhyun would be eating, Seongwoo would just silently put down some grapefruit juice next to him and even though the gesture seems simple, when Daniel sees it, he can’t help but realize how natural it is. When the weather was too hot and that they would be sweating madly, Minhyun would just silently pass a tissue on Seongwoo’s forehead, wiping away the sweat.

Somehow, over time, Daniel came to look forward to how Seongwoo and Minhyun would act towards each other. Their relation always looks so pure and beautiful and Daniel can’t look away. Admiration or envy, Daniel doesn’t really know, but looking at them, Daniel can’t help but feel as if he was looking at some piece of art. Daniel doesn’t know if it’s creepy, but he loves watching Seongwoo and Minhyun together. Not just Seongwoo, but both of them. He doesn’t know why he can’t look away, but somehow, he just can’t. It’s always warms his heart and makes a smile bloom on his own face.

Maybe because he yearns a relation like that.

He’s not sure. All he knows is that he wants to protect them. And not just protect them individually, he wants to protect what they have, what they share.

 

 

 

 

“Why are you sulking, hyung?” Daniel says in the middle of one of their tutoring session. Seongwoo had been grumpy since the start of the hour and he can’t stand the periodic sighs anymore.

“I’m not sulking,” Seongwoo answers with a frown on his face. For someone that used to be part of a theatre group, he sure doesn’t know how to hide his feelings.

“Are you sure you’re not in a bad mood because Minhyun hyung chose Dongho hyung to accompany him to the exhibition and not you?”

“No! I’m sulky because he canceled our bimonthly marathon!”

“So you do admit you are sulky.” Seongwoo freezes and narrows his eyes at Daniel. “You know he didn’t have any other choices. The exhibition is coming to an end and that’s the only day he and Dongho hyung’s schedules could match up.” Seongwoo’s frown deepens. “Are you sure it’s not because he chose Dongho hyung over you?” Daniel repeats.

“Shush and go back to your exercises!” Seongwoo is not sulky because Minhyun asked Dongho instead of him. He is in a bad mood because the marathon got cancelled. And only that. Even though Seongwoo doesn’t exactly understand why Dongho had been a ‘better’ choice according to Minhyun. Sure, Seongwoo isn’t interested in the history of pianos, but he would have made an excellent exhibition partner. Well, Minhyun’s loss.

“Hyung, what do you think of Minhyun hyung?” The playful tone that’s usually always in Daniel’s voice disappears as the younger one lifts his head to look at Seongwoo.

“Why are you asking? Are you trying to get out of doing this exercise? Because know that talking distraction only works on Minhyun,” Seongwoo answers after looking up at him with a slightly surprised face.

“No, I’m asking because I want the answer. What do you think of Minhyun hyung?” Daniel repeats and Seongwoo is slightly taken aback by the expression he is faced with. Outside of dancing, Daniel smiled most of the time and yet, now he looked serious and… Determined?

“He is a good friend?” he replies carefully. For some reason, the look on Daniel’s face tells Seongwoo that he is looking for a particular answer.

“And?” It seems like it’s not the answer he wants because the younger one keeps pushing.

“He wants to destroy my wallet?” Seongwoo proposes this time, not sure of what Daniel expect.

“And?” But the younger still seems unsatisfied as he keeps asking more.

“But in the end, if it’s something serious, he’d help me in any possible way.” That’s true. Although Minhyun would jump on the first chance to get treated by Seongwoo, if the latter had a serious problem, Minhyun would be the first there to cheer him up and to offer his help.

“And?”

“Daniel, what do you want me to say?” Seongwoo gets tired of the game and questions Daniel directly.

“Is he just a good friend? Honestly.”

“Yes?”

Daniel sighs at Seongwoo’s answer. “Hyung. Do you even know the way you look at him? It’s like there’s nothing else that matters.” Seongwoo freezes at that statement.

“You know, during our first meeting, I thought I genuinely fell for you. Not because of the soulmate bond. At least I that’s what I believed because over the time, I realized I don’t romantically like you. Anyways, it was your smile. But I never saw that smile again until I saw you talking to Minhyun. Actually, the first time I saw you smile, you were probably also thinking of him. You told me that Minhyun was the only person who heard your name correctly right away. You were probably smiling at the thought, right?” His smile. Of course, Seongwoo smiled when he talked to him too, when he cracked a joke or when a funny situation happened. But it wasn’t the same smile. It wasn’t the smile that looked beautifully pure. That smile was a smile that was mixed with fondness, happiness, and dare Daniel say, love. Over the time, he started looking forward to these smiles. Not directed at him, but at Minhyun. And he also looked forward to the smile Minhyun would give him back.

“Wha-” Seongwoo begins, but before he even has the time to properly digest Daniel’s words, the younger one cuts him.

“Hyung, what would you do if Minhyun got a lover?” Daniel’s voice is soft and his eyes are fond as he asks this question.

“A… lover? Minhyun?” Seongwoo’s heart beats start to pick up pace and before long, Seongwoo can feel his heart drumming uncontrollably. It hurts. Seongwoo wants to stop the pain, but he is still not certain about the cause of the situation.

No, he does. But he doesn’t know if he wants to act upon it.

“Hyung, what do you think of Minhyun hyung?” Daniel asks the same question again. But this time, Seongwoo knows what to younger one wants to hear. But he is still unsure himself.

“I’m not sure. I want to keep him close. To be honest, I don’t know if I want to change our relationship. I like how it is.”

“Hyung… Are you sure?” Daniel’s serious face is replace with one of worry.

“I don’t know…” Although what Daniel said makes sense, Minhyun and his relationship is already perfect in Seongwoo’s opinion. He isn’t sure he wants to change anything. He never felt the need to put what Minhyun and he were to words. It just felt right to be at the other’s side.

“Please do think about it. I believe you need to at least talk about it.”

After the conversation, Daniel goes back to his differential equation exercises but Seongwoo just stares blankly at his book that lays forgotten on the table. He doesn’t know how long he stays that way, but when he is shaken awake of his thoughts, it’s when Daniel taps his shoulder and asks him to verify his answers.

 

Seongwoo does think about it through and through. And he decides to not talk about it.

 

 

 

 

It’s soon the mid-terms, so Jonghyun and Minhyun try to make the most of their still not so busy schedules. They decide on one of these café outing they love to do, although Minhyun doesn’t drink coffee. Instead, he settles for something else, ranging from tea, juice or smoothies. Sitting amongst other customers at Daybreak, Minhyun, with a grapefruit smoothie this time and Jonghyun with an Americano.

“How are things with you and Seongwoo?” Jonghyun says at some point in the middle of their café outing after taking his Americano from the table separating him and Minhyun and sipping a bit of the drink.

Minhyun tilts his head and puts down his smoothie before answering, “Seongwoo is warming up at the idea of soulmates. I think Daniel and he would make a good cou-”

“And you?” But Jonghyun cuts Minhyun before he can finish his sentence as he puts down his own drink back on the table.

“Me? Well you know, I don’t have a soulmate, so I guess, I’ll just stick to my friends?” Minhyun answers, his eyes avoiding Jonghyun’s gaze and his right hand playing with the straw of his drink.

“No, I’m saying is this alright for you? Is this really what you want?” Minhyun can see worry on Jonghyun’s face, although he doesn’t understand why. No, although he doesn’t want to understand. Minhyun shouldn’t feel like this.

“What are you saying? Isn’t that for the best? Even though Seongwoo had initially hated soulmates, I can see how much he cares about Daniel. In the end, soulmates are really meant for each other, I guess.” It’s better like this, anyways. For him, for Seongwoo, for Daniel, for everyone.

“Minhyun…” Jonghyun looks at his friends for a while, “That’s not how you really feel.”

Minhyun stares at Jonghyun.

“Think about it. Deep inside, what does your heart want?”

“What my heart wants?” Minhyun takes a sip from the smoothie before blanking out. His heart. Did it want something? It did and Minhyun knows already. But he can’t be like this. Seongwoo finally doesn’t hate soulmates anymore, the best for him would be to be with his soulmate, of course. An image flashes in his head. An image of him on the couch, watching some kind of stupid TV program, making small talks with Seongwoo, it’s nothing big, really, but Minhyun feels the need to climb to this image. He holds onto his smoothie with trembling hands. He is scared.

“Minhyun, it’s alright to be selfish from time to time, you know?” Jonghyun’s eyes looking softly at Minhyun as he says this.

“It’ll hurt Daniel.”

“But I don’t want you to be hurt.” Of course he wouldn’t. Or he wouldn’t be Jonghyun, but Minhyun had already made a decision. He can’t let people make him hesitate like this. If possible, he doesn’t want to make anyone worry about him either, he is fine, after all.

“But still. If one person is bound to be hurt, it’s better like this. Because this is how this universe works. Soulmates bound to one another.” And he bound to no one. And that’s just how it is, there’s no need to change anything. He is satisfied with that.

“But you’re not the only one hurting. What about Seongwoo?” Jonghyun doesn’t elaborate because Minhyun knows what he wants to say and Jonghyun knows that Minhyun knows.

“It’s better,” is all he answers and he is sure that Jonghyun is disappointed in him, but he really feels that he shouldn’t push further. In the first place, he doesn’t know what there is to push.

“I don’t want you to regret anything, Minhyun, but you should decide for yourself, so I’ll drop the subject. Just remember I’ll always be there to support you.” Jonghyun does drop the topic as he finishes his Americano without a word, leaving Minhyun stare at his own drink.

 

 

 

 

Minhyun is alright with how things are. He had always been alright with how things were. And he doesn’t intend to change them. If that’s his fate, then he’d just live with it. There isn’t a need to revolt against something no one knew the origin of. He had made his decision a long time ago and doesn’t intent to let anything make him waver.

 

But talking with Jonghyun does make Minhyun waver. And he is scared. Not of rejection, but of acceptance. Is it really alright for him to be selfish? He knows Seongwoo and Seongwoo knows him. Deep inside, they both knew, but the two of them never brought it out to talk about it. It was comfortable and they hadn’t felt the need to.

Minhyun is standing next to Seongwoo as the latter is sorting out some books in the bookcase. Pondering whether to talk to him or not. Seongwoo knows he wants to say something, and he probably also knows what he wants to talk about. After standing without a word for ten minutes, Seongwoo gets tired of waiting and he abandons the books to approach Minhyun.

 “Seongwoo, I-” But before Minhyun can finish his sentence, he gets interrupted by Seongwoo’s phone. Sitting on the counter, screen facing the ceiling, Minhyun can very easily see it. And the message that pops up.

A message from Daniel that says that he wants to see Seongwoo.

And seeing the message, Minhyun’s heart falls and he hesitates, he wavers once again. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe this is a warning that he shouldn’t go against fate. Minhyun stares blankly at Seongwoo for a short moment before speaking up.

“Go meet him.” Minhyun can see Seongwoo’s face fall as he looks back at him.

“What about you?” Seongwoo asks with a soft, almost inaudible voice.

“What about me? There’s nothing about me.” Minhyun looks down to his feet. “If you want to talk to Daniel here, I can leave, instead.”

Minhyun can’t do this after all. He can’t bring himself to hurt Daniel. Daniel is Seongwoo’s soulmate and as much as Seongwoo had said that he didn’t need his soulmate, Minhyun can see how much he had changed his view on soulmates since meeting the younger one. Being selfish isn’t something he can do, even if it hurts him.

“Are you being serious, now?” He can’t see the look on Seongwoo’s face as he had already turned his back to him but he can hear apprehension.

“Yes,” is all he says as he walks toward the door. Minhyun doesn’t trust himself to keep his mouth shut, so he is just going to disappear for a few hours. And when he’ll be back, things will go back to how they should be.

"Don’t go!"

Seongwoo hugs Minhyun from behind. Not allowing the latter to take any step further. It may be paranoia talking, but he feels that if he lets Minhyun go at this moment, he wouldn’t come back again. That’s ridiculous because they are roommate and Minhyun lives here, of course he is bound to come back. But he feels as if it wouldn’t to be the same Minhyun. It wouldn’t be ‘his’ Minhyun.

Minhyun gathers all his strength so that his voice doesn’t tremble, "You have a soulmate, he is a sweet guy and he needs you." He can’t break now. He already made up his mind, he can’t turn back.

"But I need you! I don’t care about soulmates, I don’t need this other half thing. Don’t leave me..." Seongwoo says, holding desperately onto Minhyun. He can’t let go. Not now, not ever. Although he still can’t properly describe his feelings for him, he doesn’t let go.

 

"I can’t..." Minhyun’s voice is barely audible.

Seongwoo is shaking. Shaking in fear of Minhyun walking out and never coming back.

"I can’t leave if you say it like this..." Minhyun sobs and begins to tremble. Seongwoo releases his restrain to turn him around.

"Then stay." Seongwoo gently cups Minhyun’s cheeks with his hands in an attempt to make the latter look at him.

"I... don’t want... to leave you..." Minhyun softly says as he grabs Seongwoo’s clothes.

“Then, don’t leave, you don’t have to.” Seongwoo passes his finger over Minhyun’s tears to wipe them off. Although Minhyun looks beautiful like this, sadness is the last thing Seongwoo wants Minhyun to feel.

“But… Daniel…” Minhyun doesn’t have the strength to look at Seongwoo in the eyes and tries to look down on the floor, on his feet, on the table on the side, on anything but Seongwoo.

“This isn’t about Daniel, this is about us. About you and me. What do **you** want? What does Hwang Minhyun want? For himself, not for others.” Seongwoo drapes his arms around Minhyun’s shaking body and before long, he feels a pair of arms circling his own.

“I don’t know… But it hurts to think about a future without you. I don’t want to be apart from you… I don’t need anyone else. But you have a future, you have a soulmate, I don’t. Why would you want to destroy it for someone like me? I can’t do that to you.” Minhyun’s voice is shaky and unsure, and Seongwoo tightens his hold.

“So what if the society doesn’t like us. Weren’t you the one who told me that it was okay to have opinions? We’re ‘unique’, remember? Why change that?” Seongwoo rubs Minhyun’s back in attempt to calm him down. “You know, I always said that soulmates were useless, but I didn’t really know. I didn’t know how one would actually influence me. But now, I know, and I’m a bit sorry for Daniel, but I’m positive I don’t need my soulmate. I just need you to be by my side. But if you tell me you don’t want me by your side, then I’ll let go.” Seongwoo lets out his restrain and looks straight in Minhyun’s eyes. “If you tell me that you can be truly happy with that, then I’m willing to let you go. Don’t lie, be honest.”

Minhyun can feel his barriers being broken and scattering one after one. It’s all so confusing. Minhyun had already made up his mind a long time ago. He had already accepted the fact that he doesn’t have a soulmate. All his life, he had been alright with it. He would grow up to be alone and that was all. He would still have his friends and his family and that was all he needed. He had grown almost forgetting the black band on his wrist. But now, truthfully, he can’t help but resent it. Wishing for it to disappear. He resents this whole soulmate thing. And a very small part of his heart even resents Daniel. And he feels horrible for having this kind of thoughts. Daniel is the sweetest guy he’s ever met and he deserves to be happy too. It isn’t even his fault for being linked by Fate.

He doesn’t really understand what kind of feelings he has for Seongwoo, he doesn’t know exactly what he and Seongwoo are, but it’s different from Jonghyun or Dongho. Being with the other is so relaxing and so pleasing, like everything fall in a perfect sense. Minhyun doesn’t want that to change. Yet, it feels as if letting go of Seongwoo would scatter everything.

“N… no, don’t let me go. Don’t go.” Minhyun doesn’t know if he’s being selfish, no, he definitely is, but he can’t let go.

“Then, I won’t. I won’t let you go.” Seongwoo hugs Minhyun again. Safe in Seongwoo’s embrace, feelings out in the open, Minhyun finally feels at ease and his eyelids suddenly become heavy as exhaustion takes over him. Seongwoo feels the other’s body grow heavy and carefully leads him to the bedroom. As he puts Minhyun to bed, the latter grabs Seongwoo’s arm.

“Stay with me.” Minhyun’s voice is hoarse from all the crying and is coated with fatigue too. Seongwoo can see that he’s fighting to not fall asleep.

“Of course. I’m not going anywhere.” Seongwoo slips under the covers and lays down next to Minhyun and the two of them snuggle as Seongwoo watches Minhyun fall asleep.

Once he is sure Minhyun is asleep, Seongwoo slowly gets up, minimizing his movements so he doesn’t disturb the sleeping boy, and takes his phone before messaging Daniel.

 

_Sorry, I can’t make it, I need to stay with Minhyun. He just fell asleep from exhaustion_

_Why did you want to meet up?_

 

_It’s fine, I just had a question with some exercises we went through last time_

_Is Minhyun hyung alright?_

 

_Yeah, he should be fine_

 

_Contact me if there’s something wrong with him, I’m worried_

 

_It’s nothing serious, he isn’t sick_

 

_Alright, take good care of him_

_If I find out you’ve neglected him, I’ll personally fight you_

 

Daniel is a good guy and Seongwoo fells a bit guilty. Daniel should have been tied to someone who isn’t as difficult as Seongwoo. By someone who could have given all the attention he deserve. He truly deserves to be wholeheartedly loved. Just not by Seongwoo. He can’t do that. He feels like a bad guy when he has these kind of thoughts, but he doesn’t regret it.

 

_Of course_

_Sorry again, I’ll treat you next time_

 

_I’ll have the most expensive cake from Daybreak, then_

 

_Stop hanging out with Minhyun, he is clearly bad influence_

_I swear you two are out for my wallet_

 

_Haha_

_But seriously_

_Take good care of him_

 

_I will_

 

Seongwoo puts down his phone and goes back to bed. Staring at Minhyun’s sleeping figure, he listens to Minhyun’s slow and regular breath and caresses his face, swiping his bangs away from his eyes.

“I’ll definitely take care of you. Even if the whole world is against us, so long as you’re with me, I can withstand anything,” Seongwoo whispers before closing his eyes himself and drifting to sleep.

 

 

 

Mornings were always difficult since Minhyun entered university. Always pushing his limits to study more or to work on homework. It was always a race against time and sleep was becoming really time consuming. But this morning, Minhyun feels unusually fully rested. He feels as if the usual heavy burden was lifted. That’s something he hasn’t felt since high school.

Minhyun opens his eyes and is greeted with the sight of Seongwoo peacefully sound asleep in front of him. Minhyun freezes for a second, confused, before recalling what had happened the previous night. As Minhyun replays the event in his head, Seongwoo stirs from his slumber and stretches awake.

“Morning, Hyunie.” Seongwoo rests his hand on Minhyun’s cheek.

Instead of answering, Minhyun snuggles closer to Seongwoo and hugs him tight.

“Aren’t we affectionate this morning?” Seongwoo returns the hug. That’s right. Seongwoo is in front of him. Because he had chosen this unexplainable relationship instead of his soulmate. Although Daniel had called him, he stayed here.

“Daniel!” Minhyun let go of a startled Seongwoo and gets up on his arms as he remembered that Daniel had asked Seongwoo to meet him. “I forgot about him. Weren’t you two supposed to meet up? But I kept you here… What if it had been important and-”

Before Minhyun can continue, Seongwoo drags him back next to him and pulled up the sheets that Minhyun had pushed away when he got up.

“Don’t worry, I texted him right after you fell asleep, saying I needed to look after you.”

“I still feel bad… I’ll need to talk to him too.”

“You can do that later, for now, let’s take advantage of the fact that it’s Sunday and let’s sleep in.” The two of them stay silent for a while letting their eyes rest without falling into sleep. Concentrating on the sound of their breathing, they let themselves relax.

“Seongwoo?”  Minhyun breaks the silence and Seongwoo hums in response. “What are we?” Minhyun opens his eyes and turns around to face Seongwoo once again.

“Hwang Minhyun and Ong Seongwoo,” Seongwoo answers, still laying on his back, eyes still closed.

“I’m asking you seriously.” Minhyun had thought about it. They aren’t soulmates, friends wouldn’t be the right word to describe them and somehow lovers doesn’t seem to exactly fit either.

“And I’m answering seriously.” Seongwoo turns around and looks at Minhyun. “We are just us. Is there a need to describe it with any other words?” Seongwoo smiles. “This isn’t about being lovers, friends or soulmates, this is the relation between Hwang Minhyun and Ong Seongwoo.” Of course Seongwoo would say that. He always knows exactly what’s going on in Minhyun’s head. But that’s a good answer, and Minhyun likes it.

“I see. Unique, just like the two of us.” Minhyun turns back to face the ceiling, closes his eyes and smiles. “Fair enough.”

They stay another two minutes, maybe, like that, unmoving and taking in the sound of their regular breath over the stillness before Minhyun abruptly sits up again.

“What’s wrong this time?” Seongwoo asks as he feels Minhyun moving, disrupting the peace.

“I’m still wearing yesterday’s clothes,” Minhyun says, and when Seongwoo opens his eyes, he can see a look close to one of disgust on the other’s face and he chuckles. “What are you laughing at? And you’re wearing the same clothes too!” Minhyun turns to Seongwoo and points out his clothes.

“Can’t help it, someone wouldn’t let me go yesterday.” As Seongwoo finishes his sentence, he can see Minhyun slowly becoming redder and redder, the blush starting from his ears and spreading to his cheeks. “Is Emperor Hwang getting embarrassed?” Seongwoo teases.

“N-no! And you had the time to text Daniel, surely, you could have found the time to change.”

“You were desperately calling me back while crying, don’t you remember?” Seongwoo sits up himself and pulls a crying face. ‘Seongwoo, Seongwoo, please come back! Where are you?” he says with a pitiful whiny voice.

“I did not!” Minhyun grabs his pillow in an attempt to hit Seongwoo and maybe suffocate him so that he can’t talk again.

“Sorry, sorry. You know me, I wouldn’t miss any occasion to tease you.” Seongwoo guards himself against the pillow. “Anyways, let’s get breakfast, I’m hungry,” Seongwoo suggests as he catches Minhyun’s weapon.

“I want to shower first.” Minhyun jumps out of the bed and starts to look for clean clothes in his closet.

“Do you want me there with you or will you be alright on your own?” Seongwoo continues to tease.

“I will be fine! Thank you!” Minhyun shouts back as he hurries to the bathroom, ears red once again.

After both finish their individual showers, the two of them head to the cafeteria where they eat their breakfast and proceed to spend the rest day usefully by being sprawled out on the couch, watching a drama about a girl finding out that her boyfriend is in fact her brother from the same father and exchanging comments about how lame it is.

It’s no different from before. Their relation hasn’t changed much except the fact that when their hands touch, instead of taking it back, their fingers interlace themselves and Minhyun is happy with that. They’re both happy with that.

 

 

 

 

Minhyun needs to talk to Daniel. But it’s only a bit more than two weeks later when Minhyun finally gets ahold of him because the younger one had been busy with some group project and then they both found themselves being tied down by the mid-terms. And the two of them stroll together near the river after eating lunch, Daniel slightly ahead of Minhyun.

“Daniel, I-” the older one begins, but doesn’t go far as Daniel cuts him.

“Please take good care of Seongwoo hyung.” Minhyun can’t see Daniel’s face because the younger one is still a few steps ahead of him. “I already know what you want to say. Truthfully, at first, I really wanted to make Seongwoo hyung to fall for me, I wanted to win his heart, I guess. But then, I met you. And I decided to give up.” Minhyun’s heart clenches at Daniel’s words. Because of him, he had made Daniel give up on the one he should be destined to.

“Daniel…”

“No, wait. Let me finish.” Daniel stops and Minhyun follows suit. “I was jealous, you know. Of what you and Seongwoo have. Even though you two aren’t linked with these bands, your relation is so pure? I don’t know how to say this, but when Seongwoo is with you, he truly looks the happiest. And it’s the same with you.” Daniel pauses and looks back at Minhyun with a smile. “Actually, I first gave up because I thought that only you could make Seongwoo smile like he does when he looks at you. But now, I’m giving up because I care about both of you. It’s not love and it’s not as complicated or deep as yours and Seongwoo’s feelings for one another, but I do care about you, you’re my precious hyung. I want you two to be happy, so I’m withdrawing.”

Minhyun doesn’t know what to say and he doesn’t know what to do either so he just stands wordlessly and look down on the ground.

“Don’t feel bad, hyung. I’m fine.” Minhyun feels the younger one approaching and pulling him into a hug. “It doesn’t hurt, you know. I just need you two to be happy. It makes me feel happy when I look at you two, really, it makes me almost proud.” Minhyun feels bad because he should be apologizing, but it’s Daniel that’s comforting him.

Daniel pulls back and bends his knees slightly so that he can look at Minhyun’s eyes and it takes the latter in surprise as he almost jumps back. Minhyun observe Daniel’s smile. It looks so genuine, but Minhyun still doesn’t believe that he hasn’t hurt the younger one. And Daniel can probably see it because he continues, “I’m not lying, hyung.” Daniel pats Minhyun’s head as the older one lifts it up slowly. “I really like Seongwoo’s smile. And I guess being soulmate with him made me think that I had feelings for him. But guess what? I love your smile just as much. And I love Sungwoon hyung’s smile too. And Jisung hyung’s smile too. And don’t tell him I said that, but, I almost like Jaehwan’s smile as much too.” The last bit make Minhyun give out a small laugh. “I love your laugh too. It makes me happy.” Daniel smiles sweetly and somehow, Minhyun’s heart feels a bit lighter. “While it’s true that I had always been very eager to meet my soulmate, I feel like I don’t need this anymore,” Daniel looks at the red band attached on his wrist, “I don’t need it now that I have you guys with me.”

“Daniel…”

Daniel lets go of Minhyun and takes a few steps back.

“Hyung. Can I tell you a secret?”

“A secret? What is it?”

“Before meeting you guys, I didn’t really have any friends. I was bullied through school too before. When I entered University, I decided to not mingle with others and to focus on my studies. It’s not like a lot of people wanted to befriend me either. And then I met Seongwoo hyung. And it felt like he was the only person to have helped me out. On that windy day, a lot of people just passed me by but Seongwoo hyung was the only person to have stopped. And then he smiled. I thought I had fallen in love, that soulmates were really destined after all. But then I met you. And then Jisung hyung, Sungwoon hyung, Jaehwan. And I realized, my feelings for Seongwoo hyung aren’t really love. Because when I’m with you all, it feels just as exciting as when I am with Seongwoo hyung. I guess I was just in need of friends. Of people who cared for me.”

Minhyun waits for Daniel to finish and as soon as he does, it’s now his turn to hug the younger one in a comforting embrace and Daniel just lets Minhyun wrap his arms around his body before returning the hug.

After staying like that for a moment, they begin to loosen their embrace and soon enough, they begin to walk back to the dorm.

“By the way, hyung, tell me immediately if Seongwoo doesn’t treat you right, and I’ll personally go find him.” When Daniel finishes his sentence, there is something akin to confidence and determination.

Minhyun smiles sweetly at Daniel and pats his hair. “Of course. And you tell me if he does something you don’t like too. Then, I’ll ditch him and it’ll be just the two of us.”

This makes Daniel laugh in turn and before long, the two of them are laughing fully.

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo and Minhyun. Minhyun and Seongwoo. Their relationship doesn’t change that much if not the fact that they spend even more time together. The two of them are almost always spotted one, arm around the other, head resting on the other’s shoulder or just talking and laughing together. Just being blissful with one another. Their hands also often find themselves locked with one another. Sometimes, when they walk hands in hands on the street, people would look at them weirdly after seeing a black band right next to a red band, but they are both past caring. But if one actually looks past the bands on their wrist not matching the other’s, they very quickly forget they are not bound in the normal way, or perhaps that is actually the most normal way.

And while some say that the two of them should have been soulmate, Seongwoo believe it has nothing to do with being soulmate or not, it doesn’t matter if they aren’t. It’s something natural and soothing. Spending time with Minhyun is almost instinctive, just like breathing, it’s relaxing and at the same time amusing and he never gets bored with the other around.

Even when the others constantly ask Minhyun if he would have liked being soulmates with Seongwoo, he tells them he is happy like this. Seongwoo isn’t his soulmate, but Seongwoo is precious nonetheless. He doesn’t know how one feels when there were with their soulmates, he’ll never do, but it doesn’t really matter. Soulmates are one thing and Seongwoo is another.

Sometimes, people ask Minhyun if he feels guilty about Daniel, or say that he should feel bad. But before he can respond, Daniel always manages to pop up and threaten them with a dark glare before hugging Minhyun away.

Things really don’t change that much all in all. They still love making fun of themselves and jumping on others. They still worship their bimonthly marathon. Minhyun still nags at him to clean their room. Seongwoo still attempts to break Minhyun’s non flexible schedule. Minhyun still tries to destroy Seongwoo’s wallet. Seongwoo still gives into buying Minhyun grapefruit flavored drinks.

To Minhyun, being with Seongwoo makes him the happiest and to Seongwoo, being with Minhyun makes him the happiest. And that’s all that really matters.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to make some researches on Korean universities. Well, in the end, it's probably a mix of my University, some Korean University year schedule I found and (mostly) my imagination...
> 
> Do physics/chemistry student learn differential equations? I have no idea since I don't have any friend studying physics/chemistry.  
> I have one (1) friend in communication. The movie course is one of her course, but I don't quite remember if the book reading course is one she told me she had or if I imagined it.  
> As for the economy course, it's one course I personally had. I also know that a lot of other students also have it, but I'm not sure if physics/chemistry and communication students have it.
> 
> The reason this is quite long is because I wanted to write about their everyday (?) lifestyle and write on their friendship. But I also didn't want it to be entirely focused on Onghwang and then Daniel, so I gave them friends... And it became like that...
> 
> I just wanted to fill the Onghwang tag to be honest...
> 
> I'm not actually making sense right now... I'm just rambling... To delay the time I actually post this... I'm a mess...  
> I don't know...
> 
> Anyways, let me awkwardly end this by thanking you for reading until the end.  
> Now, I'll go straight under my bed out of embarrassment...


End file.
